Elements
by twilightismyonlyone
Summary: A beautiful nonordinary girl with nonordinary gifts escapes to modern civilization after her brother's murder. Furious, she vowed to kill the assassin. Then she meets a vampire… maybe she's involved in more things than she knows.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

The silence was tranquil, the landscape brushed with a thin layer of the cold whiteness from the first snowfall of the year. Each tree was encased with ice, the sunlight glinting off them like there was a small light inside each ice crystal. The little village scene was like something out of a Christmas book, you could almost imagine a little group of children singing carols. Each hut had identical mud walls, straw thatched roofs, and a blanket that acted as a shield in the doorway. No one was out in the sunlight; no one was there to breathe the cold, fresh morning air. All was silent, until…

BOOM

There was a burst of flame, a wall of heat, and suddenly the silent air was filled with screams, wails, and crying. A wall of flame leapt into the sky, rushing along the ground, leaving a muddy pool of melted snow as it screamed along the ground. There was nothing to fuel it, but the fire blazed on, closer and closer to the small village, before seemingly leaping into one of the windows of a mud hut centered right in the middle, and disappeared.

The screams echoed, and many people rushed out of the mud huts, looking around wildly. For one second, everything seemed still, before about half a thousand people poured simultaneously into the clearing. The smooth snow was trampled, muddy tracks dragging themselves from miles away, and the people running into the clearing were still screaming, some supporting others, some carrying small bundles of diminishing life. All different shapes and sizes, but all of the people had something in common.

They were all singed pitch black. Some were even bleeding, some only had minor burns, and some red scorch marks on their skin, but not one of them was unharmed. The people from the village each had a mask of horror on their faces, and more than one of them started screaming in turn, before the burned mass of people converged them, some people's strength failing them and they collapsed onto the snow. The screaming people slowly became quiet, and there was nothing but the sound of desperate wailing, and sobbing voices.

One man stood above them all, covered in fine furs and with an air of great importance and strength. His face was smooth; no wrinkles yet lined his still youthful face. A strong jaw, angular nose, cream coloured skin that wasn't too light and wasn't too dark, and straggling jet black hair fell over part of his face, making his looks better than most were. His most prominent features though, were his eyes. Completely black, not like the usual brown ones, no amount of light could lighten the inky black pools that could stare to such an intensity that if looks could kill, you'd be dead twice over before you could even realize that you made this particular man mad. His dark eyes scanned the scene quickly, darting and probing into each of the burnt people's faces, before commanding, and a rough, husky voice full of authority and warning, low yet every single living being in the clearing could hear him.

"Get these people in the da ting, and call anyone who even has the slightest knowledge in healing! Bring the most critical to my hut, and everyone else who hasn't a job to do either stay out of the way or bring every spare fur that we have."

There was a flurry of activity as everyone rushed to do as the man said. One woman scurried to his side, bowing low before speaking.

"What do we do with the furs, Wang?"

The man's eyes glittered. "Keep the people warm. Their body temperature will decrease extremely soon, and if they haven't been burnt to death, they will freeze to death." The woman turned to go, but the man, Wang, placed one large hand on her small shoulder. "Get Tou Ling to gather twenty men, go find out what happened, follow the tracks. I daresay it will be easy enough," Wang's coal eyes followed the deep tracks that the mass of people had made, trudging through the snow, "and get me Huo Liang."

"Yes, Wang," The woman murmured, before hurrying off, barking out instructions to every woman along the way, so fast her speech sounded blurred.

Wang surveyed the scene, his fingers twirling around a short golden stick, each end had a symbol carved into it, and tapering into fine threads that swirled each time he twitched the golden stick even slightly. Almost everyone had gone; all that was left was a litter of lifeless figures, being lifted away by some that had been assigned the worst job of all. Wang didn't move an inch, until two figures appeared. One was the woman that had given such rapid instructions, the other was a young girl, barely past seventeen, and the two seemed to be bickering loudly. Wang's steady black gaze watched the two approaching, their voices growing louder with every step, the woman's low and rough with age, and girl's young and melodic, and extremely audible even from Wang's distance.

"If I must repeat it again to him, Bao Mu, I will! Why would I need to prove something like this would've had anything to do with me?"

The girl's face was extremely angry, her beautiful features radiating fury. Her smooth, pale skin made the surrounding snow seem grey, her topaz eyes flickering like an evening fire, slim tapering fingers clenched into a tight fist. The older woman shook her slightly, murmuring in a low, equally angry voice. Wang heard her voice when she was just meters away from his standing spot.

"… Young lady and you will do as you're told!"

When the two turned to face him, Wang's face, so clear of emotion a second before, softened at the sight of the girl. He slipped the golden stick into one of his many pockets. She tossed back her slick straight mane of flaming auburn hair back over her shoulder impatiently, her anger melting, just a little.

"Thank you." he said lightly to the woman, and she took it as her dismissal. Her angry muttering fading away slowly as she hurried back to the huts, which were still emitting cries and moans.

"Ungrateful little…"

Wang turned his gaze back on the girl, who had her arms folded, the slight wind ruffling the thin layer of clothing she had on.

"You should wear more, Xiao Huo." Wang said, a touch of worry colouring his voice. "Weather like this can turn bitter in less time than it takes for a hungry bear to eat a fish."

"Get to the point, Ge. I know you didn't call me here to lecture me about how little I wear in winter." She said with a scowl.

Wang's face turned serious. "You're right, I didn't." he looked away from the girl, who's figure seemed even slighter than before, standing next to the burly man. His features were still young if you looked closely at them, barely past twenty, though his attitude gave you the impression of a man much wiser and stronger than even the Elders.

"Well?" the girl demanded. Something in her expression though, told you that she knew exactly what she had been called there for.

Wang suddenly looked older, as if he had aged in a single minute. His face showed stress, disbelief, and even a little sadness. "Why did you do it, Xiao Huo? There were so many other ways, why choose a one way passage that would lead to something like this?"

The girl's face didn't show a flicker of emotion, but her anger had evidently simmered down. Wang didn't give any indication that he was about to talk again, and her posture was stiff, her soft pink lips pressed in a hard line. A long, cold silence passed between them, and none of them moved. Even as the wind became colder and fiercer, the girl never shivered, never even raised a hand to brush away her flaming auburn hair from her eyes. Wang's hulking figure was as still as the girl's, his steady black gaze was not intimidating, just patient, and full of understanding. When the sun started to edge down the horizon though, the girl spoke.

"I did it for you. None of them deserve to live. One of those sickening maggots even tried to 'bring me around', when I was out with Bao Mu. What would've you done? Say to me, 'they are young, they are foolish, be patient with them' and turn your back on me even as they come crawling back to try it again." She spat out, her anger flaring just as high as before, but not directed at the man, who hadn't moved an inch since her outburst.

"And you decided to play God and decide who had the right the live, and who doesn't?" the girl opened her mouth angrily, but Wang held up one thickly gloved hand. "Don't get mad at me, Xiao Huo. It's a question."

The girl closed her mouth again, before muttered distractedly, "Don't call me that."

Wang smiled gently, and touched her cheek with two fingers. "Mother wouldn't have liked to see you like this, Xiao Huo." He murmured quietly. "Don't take people's fates into your hands like this, especially when we are the ones that have to take extra care to save them."

The girl reached up with one pale hand, taking Wang's gloved hand in hers. "Mother would not have liked you to take on such a burden of looking after our entire clan when you have barely reached Gang Dao." she said just as quietly.

Wang sighed. "Come on, Xiao Huo. We must get inside before the weather turns really hostile."

"Yeah, you're going to save this argument when I'm not in the right state of mind." The girl muttered, bringing a soft smile to Wang's face.

"You're always in the right state of mind. I'll talk to you when you have the right thoughts in that mind." Wang said, almost affectionately, before pulling the girl closer to him, sheltering her from the wind before making their way back to the circle of huts, each one now with a glowing fire inside them, flickering dully.

The two entered a hut larger than the other ones; this one had a fireplace right in the middle that had not yet been lit. Just as the two stepped into the hut, the elderly lady that had been with them before bustled into the hut, with four people following, supporting two people between them, both of them with their eyes closed and wrapped in furs, but stirring feebly and groaning.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt you Wang, but there's no room for more people in the other huts and…" Bao Mu trailed off, her lined face anxious.

"No worry. Let them stay here, you can use those beds." Wang pointed a hand at two smaller beds at the end of the room.

Bao Mu nodded gratefully, and uttered quick instructions to the people at her side. They carried the two to the bed, laying them down and covering them fully with the thick blankets, and one person darted away to start the fire. The girl called Huo Liang watched the two burnt people without any emotion on her face. If anything, she looked like she was getting angry. Wang took one look at her face, before taking her wrist.

"Bao Mu, I will be in the next room. Feel free to use this room for any more casualties."

Bao Mu nodded, before turning back to the two patients, her muttering flowing from her lips as fast as water would through a downwards river. Wang steered Huo Liang firmly out of the room, into another hut, one that was detached from the cluster, but just as spacious as the last one. After Wang had let go of her, Huo Liang walked over to a chair and sat down, muttering angrily.

"Those bastards don't deserve it. You don't know what they say behind your back, when you're not giving them food and furs that those pathetic wimps don't even try to store for winter." Following this statement, came a steady and unfaltering flow of vulgar language, something too inappropriate to record in print.

Wang looked at his sister (you have figured out that she's his sister, right?) almost humorously. "I knew that you shouldn't be allowed to the jiu dian." He joked.

Huo Liang sniffed, even though her face was deprived of anger again. "Where else could I learn such ways that are no taught in school?" she asked cheekily.

Wang shook his head, before going and pinning down the window curtains that were beginning to flap about in the wind that was fast becoming a gale. After securing them and the material that blocked the door, he turned to Huo Liang, and shrugged off his outer jacket, offering it to her. Huo Liang took it, and slid her arms through the sleeves, backwards. Wang frowned.

"You'll catch a cold if you keep this up; your back will get cold." His voice lacked conviction though. Huo Liang had had her way with clothing for the past half a decade, and not once had she even caught a sniffle. Wang knew this, though he did not want to attract any more attention to his peculiar sister than what she was already getting from the local adolescents.

The sun set and darkness slowly fell over the land. The snow was dyed a brilliant orange, red and pink, no longer pure white. When the sun finally sunk over the edge of the horizon, and everything disappeared in shadow. The darkness was so complete that it was hard to see things five feet in front of you. Quickly though, the stars came out, each burning brightly with their own life billions and billions of miles away. Then the moon rose, perfectly round and shining, brighter than anything Huo Liang had ever or would ever see.

She closed her eyelids over her topaz eyes, listening to the soft, beautiful lilting music that the moon sung, the siren song that never failed to lure her into its fantasy world. The song spun imaginary lands in her head, and for a while she was oblivious to the masses of life surrounding her, she no longer heard the cries and moaning of the injured people. Wang leaned against the wall, seeing true beauty right in front of his eyes and felt more compelled to stop his siren sister from luring anyone to think that she was a helpless beauty… for she seemed fragile, but the only true thing that you saw from her outer was her beauty.

Huo Liang turned and saw her brother looking at her, almost glowering. She wrinkled her nose, and drew the curtain over the window. It became darker than ever, but Huo Liang could see just as well in the darkness. She walked slowly, gracefully over to the fireplace, and ran a slim finger over the smoothly cut wood. Wang watched her movements in the darkness like a hawk, though the ability to see in the night was more like an owl's eyesight. His intensity though, would've made anyone besides Huo Liang flinch. The girl's pale skin seemed to give off a faint glow, before sitting on the arm of a chair, one hand supporting her balance and holding firmly onto the back of the chair, the other seemingly stroking the air above the fireplace, as if she was reaching for something. Wang's black eyes became cautious.

"I could…" she said lightly, flashing a bright, sly smile to Wang. She knew that he would know what was on her mind, and she knew that he would oppose… at first. Huo Liang had a very compelling voice, and no one, not even her own brother, the Strong One, both physically and mentally, could resist her persuasions.

"Don't even think about it." Wang said warningly, but from the dull glow of the moon through the light fabric covering the window Huo Liang could see him grimace. He knew that he would give up, even if he didn't want to. Huo Liang grinned craftily, tilting her head slightly.

"Come on, Ge. No one would see, and anyone who does would just assume such a talented fire maker like you lit it. Especially when there is plenty of firewood nearby, and even two stones." Huo Liang made her voice become pleading. She reached out for the white stones, and spun them around her hand skillfully, playing with them within his eyesight.

Wang sighed. He was going to lose anyway. When it came to the Battle of the Wills, he was never the last one to back down. Besides, who wants to waste time and strength when there was a much faster, much easier way to do things? However, he still didn't want to seem weak, and he stayed silent. Through the pale light that still filtered through, he saw his sister roll her eyes, and the stones clicked against each other in her palm as she spun them around so fast that they were blurred.

"You know you shouldn't. It's not like we can't do it the other way… the normal way." He muttered. He caught her smiling at him victoriously when he slid his eyes inconspicuously side wards.

"Come on, Ge. You've lost, you always have." She mocked him.

Wang sighed, and then smiled, scratched his head and squinted at her. "If you thought I'd object why'd you ask then?" he asked, his tone equally sly as hers. You couldn't deny that the two were related at times like these, even though their appearance was nothing alike one another.

Huo Liang shrugged, not wanting to give him the satisfaction that she had been slightly worried about his reaction to her suggestion. Her silence though, proved him right far better than any words could. She saw his smile broaden across the dim room.

"Go ahead, then."

All competition aside, the girl's face lit up. Wang smiled as she leant over the fireplace. It was worth all the trouble her actions might cause just to see the pure pleasure her face radiated when she was happy. When Huo Liang was happy, it was infectious. That's probably why it was so hard to please her. When she got her way though, it was one of the rare times that she was obvious about her euphoria. She reached one hand over the fireplace, and snapped her fingers.

Anyone looking the hut's way at that time would've seen an orange light suddenly leap alive from the curtains, crackling merrily as if there had been a fire burning there for hours with a healthy supply of dry firewood.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter One

New Girl

The morning sun shone over a mountain, making the snow seem to glitter like thousands of diamonds. The sun reached out with warm, light giving fingers, probing and lighting up even the darkest corner. The sunlight danced across the ground, skipping over water, making the flowing liquid gleam. The naturist beauty was far more superior than any man made object, and all that could be heard was a distant twittering of the songbirds that flashed and circled under the canopy of twisting tree trunks and leaves that weaved together so tightly it was hard to see where one tree became another.

Out of the blue, a glittering piece of sunlight broke off from the rest, and scooted closer to a solitary deer that had its head bent over the crystal like lake. The sparkling figure circled around it slowly, edging closer to the deer so slowly that it was impossible to see when it had actually stepped forwards an inch. The deer, unmoving and unwary, scratched an ear with a back leg, before shaking its head and turned its bright, clear orbs to the other side of the lake. The moving piece of sunlight inched slowly closer. How something so noticeable like that glittering figure could get so close to such a sensitive animal like a deer was something that no one yet had the answer to, but the slouching figure and it's cat like grace as it crept absolutely inaudibly towards the unnoticing deer hinted towards less friendly goals than just patting the poor animal on the head and letting it go.

As the creature became so close to the deer that it was almost a stone's throw away, it froze, and crouched down to the ground, so low it was almost on all fours. The long grass obscured the being's face, but the spread out hands, the coiled up legs, made it unmistakably a person, despite the predator pose. The creature was still as stone for so long that the sun began to creep towards the edge of the horizon, and the deer walked a few paces to the underbrush, and lay down on a small hollow in the ground where soft mosses were growing, blissfully ignorant. It lay down its head, blinking its large eyes and flicking an ear at a fly that was passing by. The tan coat was dotted with drops of white, and a long blaze running along its underbelly, but something in the posture of the person watching it seemed to hint that the deer's appearance was of no interest to him whatsoever.

He finally moved. The movement was extremely careless compared to his previous soundless stalk, and almost immediately a twig snapped under his weight. The sound magnified itself three times over, and the deer, as if sensing the lethal marauder nearby, leapt to its feet and hurtled away without one backwards glance. The terror of the animal was almost tangible, and there was hardly a creature that could outrun a deer once it got going in those regions. The person following it now though was far better equipped to catch a lithe deer than any creature alive today. Dropping its slow, deliberate walk, the person burst forward, feet churning up the ground, running silently but reaching impossible speeds as he whipped past everything from trees to jumping straight over a strip of river running from north to south as far as the eye could see.

In an extremely short second, the man reached the deer, breezed past the squirming, twisting and turning animal, before stopping dead in his tracks. The deer slammed into his body, and the impact should've broken at least three ribs. The deer had met the impact head on, and there was a sickening crack of bone before the lifeless creature fell to the earth, unmoving. The sparkling figure bent over the deer, and ripped its neck open, and lowered his face to the bleeding wound. After a while, he lifted his head, and wiped excess blood away from his mouth. After looking around rather smugly, the boy shook his hair and licked a few stray drops of blood from his hand. Suddenly, a girl's voice rang out.

"Ugh, honestly Thor, you have horrid eating habits."

A girl, no older than seventeen, jumped down from a tree nimbly. It was impossible that these two people were normal. The boy had been running almost at the speed of sound, and the extremely thin tree branch that the girl had leapt down from was so high, it would've broken a normal person's neck. The boy had blonde hair, fair and almost gold. He had a muscular frame, and a little higher than the average eighteen year old. The girl had perfect salon brown locks that curled down past her shoulders, and her figure was the 'perfect body' so many people had strived to achieve. Her height was average, not too short, and definitely not too tall. The only similarity that the two had was their average appearance. The beauty of their faces, their bodies, was so unnatural, so much past perfection that it was ludicrous. Their skin, all so pale it seemed white, was still sparkling like they had cut off a piece of a piece of sunlight and stuck it onto themselves.

Highly unlikely though, as the two proceeded to tackle each other to the ground, making so little noise it was almost unnerving. The only noises that were still audible were the girl's laughing and the bird calls that had seemed so beautiful before, but now paled when compared to the girl's exquisite voice. Then, out of no where, a streak of white and black hurtled towards them, so fast that the human eye couldn't follow it quickly enough. It collided with the boy the girl had called 'Thor' with a noise that sounded like a thunder clap right next to your ear, which would not only be extremely and unbearably loud, but also quite frightening.

The impact of the newcomer made the two boys rocket off and collide with a tree. Now, normally, a person would've cracked his skull open. By now, I hope you've realized that these people weren't normal. With an earsplitting creak, the tree cracked at the impact, and kneeled over backwards, coming to earth with a roar, and with a massive splintering of braches, the five foot thick tree was pulled up by its roots and slammed to the ground. After all the earth and debris and dust cleared, the two figures had already stood up and were dusting their clothes off as if causing a five foot thick tree trunk to collapse was absolutely natural. The girl ran over to them, but not only was her face not one bit worried, it was almost angry.

"You boys are such idiots! Why did you do that for?" she demanded.

The boy named Thor grinned at her. "For fun, Tess, why else?" he said jokingly, punching the other boy on the arm.

"Yeah, Tess, it's fun. Look it up in a dictionary, it's a common enough word." He said, cracking a big smile. The girl called Tess rounded on them, her eyes scornful, but you could see a bright glimmer of humor in her topaz orbs even as she started lashing out at the black haired boy grinning down at her.

"And you! You're no better! Actually, you're worse! What was that for? Go join the V Rugby team if you're so into violence." She scowled playfully.

The boy shrugged, not caring much. He glanced at the girl sideways though, and smiled smugly when he saw the little grin on her face. His looks were just as beautiful as the other ones, despite the ruffled black hair that draped across his face that made him look a bit less civilized than the others. He grabbed the girl and slung her across his back, and started walking. The girl complained for a bit, hitting the boy's shoulders for a bit before she settled down, making herself comfortable and laced her arms around his neck, and let her chin fit snugly in the crook of his neck. The three started heading in a general direction of south east, laughing and joking, looking as if they were in a scene from a movie rather than a few teenagers mucking around on a weekend.

When they reached the lip of a large town that buzzed with life, Thor shrugged on a jacket, covering the spots of blood on his shirt. The three walked into town, with many heads turning at their almost god like appearance. The black haired boy did not put Tess down as they walked towards the suburbs, and acted if she weighed a mere half a kilo rather than forty five. The sun set even more as they continued walking, past some of the ramshackle houses that were clustered together, and past the little more spread out and more brushed up houses and apartments than the shambles before. As they continued down, the houses varied from good quality to absolute rubbish dumps. After about an hour of walking and non stop flowing chatter, the three turned off to an abandoned road.

After about another half an hour of still leisurely walking, with no care for the time what so ever, they came to a fork in the road. There was a signpost that wasn't very helpful either. The three ignored the signpost though, and took the left street. Then they turned off onto a road that was hardly a road. Actually, you would've never noticed it unless you actually knew it was supposed to be a road. The three finally fell silent, before they turned another corner, and suddenly an enormous house loomed out of nowhere. The lawn was about half an acre around the whole thing, and the house was almost like a castle; it was so big. The bricks were a brilliant red, and there were stone pillars here and there, and the few stone sculptures gave the house and ancient air.

The three teenagers stepped into the house, and the boy finally put the girl named Tess down. The entrance hall was as wide as any school gym; the list of what three teenagers could do to such a house was endless, there were so many possibilities, however, all involving the place getting trashed. Trashed would be the last word used to describe the place though. The curtains were thick, but the windows were about five meters high, and two across. There was a large winding stair case that branched off at two ends like it does in the movie Titanic. There were a few pot plants were and there, all flourishing beautifully, with exact, precise paintings hanging along a bare patch of wall now and then. Thor bounded up the stairs in unimaginable speed, and was down again in fresh clothes in almost less than a second.

"Come on Tal, I gotta show you something." He whispered to the black haired boy, winking at Tess.

Tal squinted at him, before shrugging. "Sure."

He followed Thor out the back door, docile as a lamb, before the two boys suddenly put on a burst of speed so fast that they left skid marks on the ground. Tess folded her arms crossly and followed them for a few steps, her brown hair streaking out behind her as she traveled just as fast as the two boys.

"Come back soon, we have school tomorrow!"

She slowed slightly, before coming to a stop altogether. Thor waved at her, before the two boys raced off again. Tess, shaking her head, ran back to the house, and closed the door, just as the last of the sun sunk under the horizon. Tess walked the length of the majestic house, and flicked on the porch lights every few minutes. She walked up the stairs at a normal pace, humming slightly to herself, and slipped quietly behind a door and closed it. Behind the door, slowly came the lilting music of a flute.

"Oh my god, guys, you promised! Where are you?"

Tess slammed another door open, her face annoyed. She ripped the curtains open, and amazingly, they didn't fly out the open window, considering the strength and animosity she was using to get such light pieces of fabric open. They didn't even tear as Tess brought her rampage to another room, and started yelling again.

"Thoreau! Talon! If you two don't get your butts here right now-"

She was unable to finish that sentence, as Tal had burst out from nowhere and had proceeded to muffle her abnormally loud vocals with his mouth. Of course, Tess was not yet ready to give up on her anger, and Tal was something she could vent her steam on and not care about the breakage risk.

SLAP

The impact of her hand made Tal take one step back, but it was all Tess needed to break free from his grip and dance lithely away. "God, you are so immature." She sniffed at him, now perched on the headrest of an armchair. "Where's Thor?"

Tal shrugged. "Thoreau is no where to be found, Milady." He said formerly, imitating a butler and bowing, and then ducked as an analogue clock flew at his head. Tess wrinkled her nose at him, before walking out the front door. "Well, tell him if he wants a ride to school, to hurry it up." She snapped over her shoulder.

Tal took one last look at her retreating figure before following. Thor could catch up easily… Just as the two had slid into the car, a white blur dashed over to them and fluidly leapt into the backseat. Thor flashed them a bright, innocent smile from his little perch.

"Morning, I trust I'm not late."

Tess ignored him, and gunned the engine. Before Thor could even sit down properly the car had exploded down the road at 80 kilometers per hour.

"So where were you, dude?" Tal asked, grinning. He had his arm slung over Tess' shoulders as she drove at a maniac speed past a block of houses, and she didn't show even one sign of the possibility that she might slow down anytime soon.

"Mmmph… here and there, everywhere…" was the vague reply.

Tess shot him an irate look before pressing her foot down even harder on the accelerator.

"And you better all have it on my desk Monday or you'll do it in detention!"

"Yes miss." Thor chorused with the class. He was on his feet and at the door before anyone had even stood up. It wasn't like he actually needed to listen when he was being told to write an essay about a topic he head already learnt twice before. His sixth sense told him that something had happened, and it wasn't anything good. It made him more anxious than usual to get out of class.

He met Tal with his arm slung over Tess' shoulders at the cafeteria, and they were pushing and joking with each other. As soon as they saw Thor's expression though, they straightened up.

"What's happened?" Tess asked, reaching out a hand to touch his arm.

"I fell like… something bad has happened." Tess and Tal exchanged looks, but Thor was too distracted to notice. He continued mumbling, almost to himself. "I mean, it's nothing wrong, obviously. You two are here, healthy as ever… and yet I still feel like someone close to me is suffering. The only people that I care about that are still alive are you two… so…" Thor trailed off, his voice now a low vibration as he continued to mumble to himself.

Tess cleared her throat. "Um, Thor… you should know, that there's a new girl at the school. She's in the LOTE class opposite mine and I saw her go in. I mean, a school this small, it isn't too hard to notice someone new."

Thor rubbed his temples, his face slightly irked. "And what has that got to do with me? I mean, a school should get new students every now and then, right?"

Tess and Tal exchanged another look. This one, Thor caught, even though he had barely tilted his head up. "There's something else, isn't there? Something you're not telling me." He said his eyes suddenly intense and probing.

"Well…" Tess trailed off, and started mumbling just like Thor. Her lips were just trembling slightly, but Thor still caught the words she was humming. "… She's got topaz eyes, and she's really pale. I mean like, us pale. I even tried to Read her through that window that connected the two rooms, but as soon as I started trying, she whipped her head around and saw me, and then I got nothing." Her voice was slowly getting faster, and even Thor had to lean in now to catch what she was saying, "It was freaky, as if she knew exactly where I was and what I was trying to do and what I was. Her name's Flame; it sounds like it came out of a fiction novel or something though." Tess laughed nervously, trying to cover up the fact that she was far more freaked than she was letting on.

Thor listened, his mind running blank, something that didn't usually happen, considering he had about one and a half centuries' worth of memories in there. "Have you seen her, Tal?" he forced himself to speak. The two were looking at him as if he might come down with some contagious fever; an impossible feat, by the way.

Tal nodded, though still eyeing him cautiously. His tone changed, and Thor could tell that he was trying to lighten the atmosphere. "Yep, and I tell you, that is one hot girl. I swear I could hear-"

He could not finish that sentence, however, since Tess had just slammed her hand into his head with a loud bang. "Talon Trieste, you are such a – a sleazebag!"

"Miss Tessellate Eritrea, please keep your voice down! This is a cafeteria, not a lunch yard!"

Tess scowled at Tal before turning to the teacher that was striding down towards them. "Yes, miss. I'm so sorry about that, I promise that I'll never ever do it again." Her voice became unbearably sweet, and so repentant that the teacher blinked, as if wondering why on earth she would tell off such an innocent being.

"Erm, uh… Yes. Good girl, as long as you give me your word." She mumbled, before scurrying away.

Tal snickered, before pulling Tess back into his lap again. "Oh, you are so bad."

Tess poked him in the arm, but didn't struggle against his embrace. "You're not out of hot water yet, you idiot. There was that disappearing act you pulled on me, and now this. You've got a lot to make up for." She sniffed.

"But I always make up for it, don't I?" he asked slyly, kissing her bare shoulder.

Tess nodded meekly. Thor rolled his eyes at the two, before letting his mind wander around the room. As a vampire, his 'power' was that he could sense if anything bad was about to happen to anyone. This only worked for people that he knew though; it wouldn't work on any random stranger he met on the street. Their school had an absolute, staggering total of three hundred and eleven students (you can tell I'm being sarcastic, can't you?), himself included, and he knew everyone by name and age and class and… He could also know what someone was about to do before they actually do it. He let his mind wander, and probe into people's consciousness. His head turned slightly though, when it reached a void.

"Hey, guys, I can't sense someone." Thor murmured quietly. He didn't turn his head, not wanting to look suspicious. Not that he thought anyone was looking at him though…

Tess and Tal stopped their resumed bickering, and Tess looked around. "Oh, it's her. So you can't sense her either, huh? That's weird. Tal, you try."

Tal grew still, and his gaze burning into something just a little to the right of Thor's shoulder. He obviously didn't have a problem with even bothering to try and stay inconspicuous. After a while, he shook his head.

"Nothing. Not even a peep. It's like she doesn't feel…"

Thor bowed his head, deep in thought. Tess' little talent was to see into anyone. She could see their past, their motives, and if they were pure of heart or an axe murderer. The fact that they couldn't see her motives was complicated enough, but what Tal said just didn't make sense. Tal was able to see people's emotions, and had an extra 'talent'. He could manipulate (he preferred to use the word 'convince') into doing what he wanted them to, if his looks and smooth voice wasn't enough. It was the first that worried Thor though. A girl with no emotion…? It was a rare enough thing that he met a girl that hadn't cried before, but one with no emotion at all? That wasn't possible. Feeling emotions was what made humans human, it was what made people so different to other animals. Thor shook his head, and unable to resist, glanced over his shoulder. What he had meant to be a quick, inconspicuous glance turned into a full on trance-like stare; something that, needless to say, didn't happen to him often.

The girl's skin was indeed, as pale as his. Her eyes were almost the exact shade of metallic orange that Tess' were after hunting and long, curled lashes that fluttered over them each time she blinked. Her straight silky auburn hair cascaded down her shoulders, swaying lightly and glinting in the sun as she bent her head now and then to lift a forkful of food to her mouth. Her perfectly clean and stylish clothes screamed designer brands, and followed her slim figure flawlessly. They didn't show any skin, but they hinted at the curves underneath. When the girl stood up, she walked – walked? It looked like she floated – over to the rubbish bin and dumped her tray. Just before she exited the hall though, her topaz eyes suddenly snapped over to Thor's table, and immediately fixed straight on him.

What hit him almost made Thor fall out of his chair; something, needless to say again, that had never happened before. It was as if he had somehow miraculously borrowed Tal's power, and could feel her emotions. What he was experiencing now though, was far from nothing. He was hit with such grief, such despair that if he could, Thor would've started to cry right then. It wasn't it though. If it were just sadness, Thor probably wouldn't have done what he had done next. Such a blazing feeling of hatred and complete fury almost consumed him for a second, so that before he knew what he was doing, Thor had clenched his lunch tray so hard that the metal gave under his fingers.

"Oh my god, Thor, what the hell are you doing?"

Tess' low, venomous voice broke him out of his trance. Thor blinked, but by then the girl, Flame, had turned away and sped out the door. Thor turned back to his family again, and guiltily looked down. Both sides of his lunch tray now had dents that fitted his fingers precisely.

"Oh, sorry." He muttered. He lent his elbows onto the table, and carefully made sure no one was looking, and then he smoothed the tray with two fingers, as easily as someone would smooth a dent in soft clay. He didn't meet Tess' angry gaze or Tal's expression of disbelief. On the other hand though, what other way would he have been able to know what their expressions were unless he had looked? Instead of engaging himself in a mental argument though, Thor stood up.

"I'm gonna go, okay? See you guys later." He said brusquely.

Tal looked like he was about to speak, but Tess placed a finger on his mouth. "Okay, we'll meet you outside later."

Thor gave her a smile, before turning and walking as fast as he could, without actually running, to his next classroom where he might be able to think. He dumped his tray before he exited the room, and could feel a lot of people's eyes on him. An odd feeling made him think that someone had seen his little 'imprinting-finger-dents-into-the-metal-lunch-tray' trick. It was a worrying thought, but no one paid them any attention anymore, not when they had made such a point about being left alone… The memory brought a smile to his face.

It was hard to think that he had hurt someone, but Thor knew it would have had to be done. Ignorance, feigned deafness, and after a few tantrums, whispered rumors, the girls and guys left him alone. Tess though, had a lot less trouble with it than the two boys did. By one week, the majority of the female population that had dared to approach her thought that she was an absolute bitch. The male population though, thought for a while that she was playing 'hard to get', until Tal pressed the point that they should leave her alone. After his little 'chat' with one guy, the word spread around quickly enough that the general population should just leave the three alone.

When Thor entered the hall, the first thing he saw was that shiny head of auburn hair, bent over a book, but she hadn't changed into the sport uniform. So he had his gym class with her. Interesting… Thor didn't approach her though, knowing that it would seem weird; the guy who turned down every offer to the spring dance and then approaching the new girl in town. Not only would it reflect badly on him, it would probably be the start of about a hundred rumors. Thor went to the locker room, and changed, as usual ignoring everyone. He couldn't block out their voices though, something that he wished was in his power to do.

"Has anyone spoken to her yet?"

"Has she spoken to anyone yet?"

"Do you think she's got a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, like a girl her would give someone like you-"

"Oh, shut up! You're the one with the girlfriend, if she hears about this, I'd give it ten seconds before she dumps you mate. No, five! Two!"

What resulted was a discussion that became more and more heated, and then finally there was a full on tussle, and ended up with Coach Sty having to storm in, red as a beetroot, and actually pull two guys apart. Thor rolled his eyes. They were such idiots, some of these guys. When he came out of the locker room, Thor found that Coach Sty had set up about four badminton nets (badminton is the only sport that I actually know something about – I wasn't trying to copy Twilight, promise… o.o;), and told the class to pair off. He walked over to Coach Sty. Thor spun him a tale of deep remorse, about how he had sprained his wrist over the weekend. Something that wasn't entirely untrue. That collision would've killed any normal person. Then again, no normal person would actually hit the tree that hard…

"That's fine, Thoreau. You can go sit next to Flame over there…"

Sitting next to that girl was the last thing that Thor wanted to do. He didn't say it though, and walked over to the general direction of the girl. She didn't even twitch as he sat about five meters away from her. Thor recognized the book she was reading. It was a personal favourite of his, except her copy seemed so weathered that it might even have been one of the original copies. Thor had one, but that was only because he was one of the few… beings that were still alive at the time. He closed his eyes for a bit, holding his breath when some of the people came just a little too close.

Thor watched the badminton games continue, yawning now and then, before at half-time Coach Sty told everyone to swap over. Thor caught himself peeking at 'Flame' more than once. He found himself getting caught up with her slightest movements, since the only thing she offered were slight movements. Flame didn't even once glance his way, or even get up to stretch a little. She didn't seem even one bit bored, but that was probably because she had a book and Thor didn't. The only things that indicated that Flame was actually living and breathing was the steady rise and fall of her chest, and when she tossed her hair over her shoulder, or turned a page of her book, and he was even caught up with the way she sighed, and he tried to be a little more inconspicuous as he continued to observe the beautiful yet strange girl that just sat five meters away from him, but she felt five thousand miles away.

Thor had to admit it to himself. He wasn't used to a new girl that paid no attention to him, and the only indication that Flame had ever shown that she was actually aware of his existence was when she made eye contact with him in the cafeteria. It was also the first time that he found himself so strangely drawn to someone he had never spoken to. Especially with him being what he was, and she being what she was: a human. It was like water and oil. He would just never be able to have any sort of relationship with a human. It was more than impossible, it was illogical.

When Gym ended, Thor went back to the locker room, and changed back into his clothes as quickly as possible. It wasn't possible that someone so alien to him would have such an absurd hold over him. He couldn't change as fast as he wanted to though, and just as he exited the room, he heard a few boys whispering in the corner.

"Do you think she noticed?"

"You think she'll say yes?"

"I want to ask her…"

"Heh, five bucks says she'll turn you down!"

Such an irrational surge of disgust rose within Thor, it was strange. He had heard many things from these adolescents, and had never felt anything but sometimes a slight superiority towards them. The next second though, Thor ran around one corner and slammed into someone.

"Hey, dude, watch it!"

"Sorry." He mumbled, before continuing to walk on. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. He stopped walking, and sighed irritably. "Hey, I sad sorry, what more do you want?"

"Thor, it's me."

Thor turned around in surprise. It was Tal. If he could blush, he would've been turning nicely red just about then.

"Oh, sorry about that… I wasn't paying attention." He said sheepishly.

Tal snickered, "Yeah, I could tell."

Thor rolled his eyes. "Nice, thanks for your sympathy."

"Why do you need sympathy?" Tal asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Never mind," Thor said hastily.

Tal's eyebrows went even higher, and Thor prepared himself for a round of endless questioning, before, appearing out of nowhere, Tess hurtled into Tal.

"So, where have you been?" she squealed, in an extremely un-Tess like way. Just as Tal swung her around his neck though, Thor caught her giving him a wink. He gave her a thumbs-up as his thanks just as he ducked around another corner. Tess was such a life saver sometimes, he thought to himself. Just as he rounded another corner though, he ran into someone else. This is so not my day, Thor thought bitterly, and reached out his hand automatically to the person he could've felled. He paused though, when he realized who he had knocked over. Oh, my luck just keeps getting better. He half expected her to ignore his outstretched hand, but to his surprise, Flame took his hand with one just as cold as his.

"Thank you."

Her voice, quiet, low, and… Thor couldn't use any other word to describe it: beautiful. It wasn't the same beauty as Tess' voice was. Tess' voice just made you smile. This was a dark beauty, like a siren call you knew you should resist, but just didn't want to. Without thinking, Thor blurted out, "I'm Thor." The girl paused, with her back already half turned to him. "Flame," she said shortly.

Before Thor actually registered the fact that he was willingly talking to someone, Flame had already walked away, her quick lithe steps bringing her quickly out of sight. Thor turned and went back the way he came, and almost ran to the parking lot, where he saw Tess and Tal lying on the bonnet and staring at the sky. He smiled at them, before creeping up on them quietly - as in vampire quiet, practically soundless - and he made his voice dark and menacing. "Boo." Tess' eyes widened and she sat bolt upright. When she saw who it was though, she leapt straight into Thor and started pummeling him in the chest.

"You idiot!" she yelled.

Tal rolled his eyes at the two, before pulling Tess off him as easily as he would've pulled a toddler out of a sandpit.

"Hey, let go!" Tess whined.

"Okay, you two get in the backseat, I'm going to drive!" Thor yelled, throwing his hands up into the air as if he were the one giving up instead of the one giving the commands.

"Yes sir!" Tal yelled, though his voice was a bit muffled as he struggled to get Tess into the car. Thor laughed at his attempts, but when the car door finally clicked shut, it took Thor under a second to hop into the driver's seat and start the engine. Another second later, they were pulling out onto the road, and sped away. Thor, as oblivious as he acted, couldn't quite ignore the feeling of someone watching him, even as his foot pressed down on the gas pedal and watched the needle of the speedometer rise higher and higher as they sped away from humanity…

She watched him leave with what she supposed was his family. The black haired boy he was with must've been his brother; they had the same last name. The other might've been his brother's girlfriend. The fact that they all went home together was slightly strange, but she gave it no second thought. It was natural for someone to go live with the person that they loved, and since they were eighteen, it wasn't even illegal. What bothered her was that she was actually taking time out to find out things like this. She had more important things to do, and she couldn't let her mind stray again. She swore to herself that she wouldn't, but now here she was, watching him leave the school in his flashy car, laughing and joking with people that he could call family. The word tore her soul apart.

She couldn't help but replay that scene after gym in her head, over and over again. The shock of being knocked to the ground, the slight pain of actually colliding with the hard, cold, tiled floor, then the disbelief that whoever had knocked her down was actually offering to help her up again. His cold grasp, his topaz eyes, ones that were so like hers. Then he told her his name, actually offering conversation, when all she had heard of him was rejection towards the male and female population. Then, even when she was already walking away, he prompted conversation again, asking for her name. She hugged her bag to her tighter, trying futilely to block those thoughts from her mind. He might actually be the person she was looking for; getting involved with him would just make it too hard. It couldn't be this way, and she wouldn't need to work hard to make it so, considering all the sour thoughts that most of the girls were harbouring against him.

The girls here also made no move to conceal their thoughts. No one told them off about it, seeing that they were all thinking along the same lines, and none of the girls there were stupid enough to bitch about people in front of a teacher. She knew that the only girls that could've disagreed with the loud mouths were the shy ones that would be too petrified to speak up anyway, even if someone volunteered them. But why should she care? She didn't care… but the more she tried to convince herself, the more she knew that it was getting to a hopeless degree. She was intelligent enough to see that if she really didn't care; his mere presence wouldn't be affecting her so much. Besides, it wasn't just about his looks. She had never sunk so low to just be attracted to looks. It was his mystique, how little everyone seemed to know about him and his family, the unnerving grace and speed that he could use, and even the smallest things like how he and the other two never ate and how he intently he had watched her during Gym; all the important little things added up to one big thing… one big thing that she didn't even want to think about. But of course she knew that while she was telling herself that she didn't want to think about was thinking about it anyway.

In a desperate attempt to bring some more logic to her thoughts, she decided that instead of talking to herself, she would just head home. She knew that she wasn't attracted to the boy; she was rather more drawn to why he was so mysterious, why he seemed to want to talk to her. If it were just because of her looks, then she would be disappointed. However, if it led to something a little more interesting… she fought down the zaps of electricity that raced up her spine, but couldn't stop a small shiver. Her intuition told her that something was about to happen, something exciting, new, interesting, but not necessarily good. The girl walked away from the school, away from the chatter, the noise, the nauseating smell of petrol, but showed no indication that she had a car, or was getting any form of transportation with wheels. The direction she was walking in led to nothing but forest, but the steady, fluid gait of the girl never paused, never even ceased once to maybe check her direction. She walked with purpose, and no one that saw her could ever doubt that she knew where she was going, even though no one else could see her; anyone that would want to spy on a girl walking were all still at work.

The setting sun set off her auburn hair, and she turned her eyes away from it. The topaz orbs washed over the land before her, and she found nothing stirring. The girl's walk became slightly faster, but not out of urgency. If anyone had happened to be watching her, they would probably assume that she was nearing her destination and just wanted to get there a few seconds faster. Not that there was any destination that a normal person would want to reach anywhere near the place the girl was heading. The forest was now encroaching, and the line of trees grew thicker with every step she took. None of this fazed the girl though. If anything, her back became straighter, her walk almost intimidating. After a while, when she was faced with a thick blanket of green on all sides, the girl stopped walking, and sighed.

Huo Liang was never a girl to let things get her down, or chase after someone. Her stubborn nature absolutely refused to let her do anything like this. But after what had happened almost two winters ago, Huo Liang's personality had taken a huge, dramatic change. The girl now showed nothing on the outside, especially not happiness. She walked forwards a few more steps, and then reached out her hand to another ordinary blanket of moss and ferns. When she pulled it aside though, a tent was revealed. Huo Liang slid inside, not disturbing even one leaf as she pulled the flap down.

The tent itself almost blended in perfectly with its surroundings. Practically moss green, it was extremely shabby compared to its occupant. You probably would've expected something more from a girl that seemed like the 'oh-my-god-I-broke-a-nail' type, but as previously mentioned, Huo Liang was not to be judged by her cover only. People who did that often found themselves going backwards with her rather than forwards.

Inside was nothing grand. There were a few pieces of clothing in the corner, a metal box with a lock, and a thick blanket. It was on the blanket that Huo Liang, or as she was known now, Flame, folded herself onto, and she took out a picture from underneath her pillow. It was a likeness, and perfect sketch of a young man. A young man with furs draping across his body, and one foot standing on a little outcrop of rock, and one hand propped up on his waist, and the other firmly grasping a long, straight stick that he had dug into the ground. The pitch black eyes were staring into the distance, and straggly hair being pulled along with the wind. His mouth was set in a line, but there was no harshness to it. The sketcher captured the absolute domination he had perfectly, and the flat snow landscape just enhanced this feeling.

Flame reached out one pale finger to trace along the person's face, her face unreadable. Conflict raged in her topaz eyes, and she bit her lip. Flame knew that it was only in private that she could show her emotions, and if she didn't do it then, she wouldn't have any other chance to. Besides, if she didn't let out some of the emotion she felt now, it might come out in public. Flame shuddered to think what would happen then, but she knew that it wouldn't be hard to find that part of her that wouldn't care one bit if anyone gets hurts because of her actions. Only one person could ever make her feel guilty, or maybe even sorrow, and now that person… She let out a shaky breath, pulling the blankets tighter around her slightly shaking shoulders, her pale fingers still stroking the glass picture frame of the man in the snow.


	3. Chapter 3

Communication

The next day, the sun didn't make its morning appearance. Instead of the land being layered with warm sunshine, it was covered thickly with a layer of grey clouds. No birds were calling; the dingy sky seemed to reject the idea of any pleasantries. The only cheerful sound that could be heard over the car engines and beeping horns where the cheerful babble of three hundred school kids making their way to school. They were all a cluster of assorted clothing, walking and pushing their way to the front door of the school. No one stood out; no one seemed particularly special, until a flashy car pulled into the parking lot of at least five year old vehicles. The shiny red automobile slid into a parking spot smoothly and the engine purred to a stop. Stepping out of the bright red car was, of course, Tess. Her face was thoroughly annoyed, but she wasn't alone. Tal stepped out of the car after her, his face half between amusement and exasperation.

"Come on Tess, it's not that bad! It's not like he hasn't pulled a runner before…"

"Well that's the problem!" Tess raged, slamming the car door shut. If anyone bothered to look more closely, you could've sworn that there were petite finger marks on the door handle. "The whole point is that he's done it before! I mean jeez, it would take him what, half a millisecond to write a note? Aren't we worth that much time for him? Considering that he has practically forever to-"

Tess' rampage was cut short by Tal's hand. He pulled her closer to him, hissing in her ear, "Have you gone insane? You're shouting about that in public?"

Tess' topaz eyes widened, and Tal let her go, seemingly satisfied with his job. He surveyed her, and he knew that if she could, she would be blushing.

"C'mon," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder and dragging her along. "We'll be late…" he tried to ignore the stares that they were attracting. Not that it was an uncommon thing. He almost snarled at a pair of snickering boys. Tess shrugged his hand off her shoulder, and stalked off, trying to recover her posture. Tal walked after her, still shooting venomous glances in all directions. Tess started a mumbling rant about all the ways she could punish Thor about his 'disappearing act'. After a while, Tal pulled Tess to him again, forcing her eyes to his.

"Now, you listen to me." He said firmly, "Thor needs to figure this out by himself, and he needs time to figure it out. Let him alone, it's not like he needs to be in school." He said gently. "Let him work out this girl, you and I both know that this girl isn't normal. Perhaps she can help him…" Tal trailed off. Tess' eyes widened. Her face showed many emotions, first shock, disbelief, and then incredulous.

"What did you say?" she screeched.

"Shhh! Keep your voice down…" he said hastily.

Tess looked around. Sure enough, people were staring. Well, normally they would've been staring, now they had a reason to. She turned around, sniffing. "Yeah, like that matters. You know what you just said? You're completely insane! Please tell me that you didn't mean what you just said."

Tal met her gaze steadily, but did not answer. It had been an idea that had been flowing around in his mind for a long time now, ever since the new girl had appeared and Thor forgot who he was in the corridor. It had been two weeks since then, and lately Thor had disappeared now and then, often returning hours later. His latest disappearance had been three days ago, and they hadn't heard from him since. His lack of consideration to Tess' schedule had driven her mad, and Tal was the one that bore the marks of the brunt of her attacks. Figure of speech of course, but nevertheless, it was something Tal could've done without. He watched Tess stalk away without his answer. Perhaps it was better that she didn't hear what was on his mind. Anyway, she would be able to see what he would be doing next; which wasn't saying that she would like it.

Thor crouched down low. His normally clean clothes were now raggedy and even slightly torn. His blonde hair was as light as ever, but now it wasn't smoothly combed back behind his ears, it was falling wildly over his eyes. Thor crept forward again, his mind telling him to go back, his heart telling him that he needed to find out what this was. He unclenched a fist, and stared down at the small object clenched in his fist. It was a golden stick, with gold threads shimmering on each end. Thor knew that once he had taken it, the girl, Flame, would know that someone was following her. She was too attentive a girl to miss something like that. It had been in a metal box, and in a wild fit of complete insanity, he had gone ahead and broken it open. Inside had been the stick, and a few photos and a whole heap of credit cards.

Thor spun his memories to a day earlier. He had been sure that Flame was asleep, but then she had sat bolt upright. He barely had time to get out of the tent; she had been so fast, and didn't even give a sign as to having even wakened up. Then there was her scent. Thor, Tal and Tess had been 'vegetarians' for some time now, but that didn't mean that he hadn't had his share of temptation. Flame's scent… it was hard to describe, but not entirely impossible. He could smell it, but it didn't tempt him physically, as in the blood lust way. It was almost like a particularly delicious perfume you might scent on your way past a beauty shop; one that captured all your senses but you just weren't in love with it that much that you wanted to drink it, it just demanded you to buy it. Of course though, Flame wasn't a perfume – cologne – that he could just pick off a shelf and buy. This was the type of perfume that could turn on an invisibility shield whenever it wanted to, literally.

Flame was the hardest person that Thor had ever tried to track. Actually, she was the only one; the only thing he knew was that she was one light footed human. She had flitted between the forest trees and vines as nimbly and quietly as Tess could, even though perhaps not as fast. It was clear that the girl was no where from here. Even the most skilled gymnasts here wouldn't be able to move as quietly and quickly as Flame. It was almost unnerving, but slightly comforting as well for Thor to think that this little obsession of his wasn't just over an ordinary human. In fact, he wasn't sure that the girl was human; something he knew sounded completely off the rocker, even to him.

Back to the present time, Thor was crouching, hidden, on a tree branch. Flame had just missed three days straight of school, and his curiosity had gotten the better of him, and he had skipped off and followed her. Now, as he waited for her to return, he contemplated how mad Tess would be getting at him. Considering her moods, Thor was willing to bet that she wasn't about to welcome him back with open arms. She'd probably welcome him back with a pair of sledgehammers. Not a comforting thought, to say the least, even if he was a vampire. Thor was still stewing in his own thoughts, and forcibly ignoring the fact that he could consider himself as a psycho stalker, when she returned. He straightened up, and felt himself slipping slightly as he took in her change in appearance.

Flame's normally slicked back hair was tied up in a bun so tight that it seemed her skin was being pulled back, and her normally trim clothes were replaced by a kind of fur that seemed to have been ripped off an animal and washed. No store would've been able to sell something like that, much less risking manufacturing it. Thor watched her pull out something from her pocket and slid it into her backpack. She then cracked open the metal box, and rummaged around in it for a while. About two seconds later, she froze, becoming so still for a moment that even Thor thought that she could've passed as a statue. She turned her head around slowly, cautiously, and straightened. The way she moved reminded him of a cat; the way she tilted her head reminded him of a hunting dog who had picked up on a game trail.

That thought made him rather uneasy, but he knew that there was no creature a live that could capture a vampire, especially not a fragile girl like this one. She may have special talents beyond the norm for a human but for a vampire; all she could do was walk barefoot noiselessly. Thor went through all these thoughts to reassure himself, but he didn't know why. He didn't need reassuring; if he needed reassuring it meant that he believed that the girl might've actually been able to detect him, or, even more absurdly, catch him. He scolded himself silently, before the girl turned and disappeared from the tent. Swiveling his head around, Thor's sharp eyesight picked out shadows and protruding points in the forest gloom, but the girl was either hiding or she really had… disappeared.

Suddenly, extremely unexpectedly, there was a burst of flame right above Thor's head. The roaring light and heat startled him, and he almost lost his footing. He ended up swinging onto a lower branch of the tree he had been perching in, his senses going wild. His natural urge as a hunter was to fight back; his urge as a man told him to run from the unknown and perhaps investigate it later when he had a little backup. Being a vampire, all these urges combined into one. Thor heard a wild snarl rasp through his throat as he glared up from the lower branch. It didn't take him long to jump nimbly back up, turning his head and sniffing the air. Surprisingly, he detected no smoke, and there were no burnt leaves. If Thor had doubted his own sanity, he would've sworn that he was hallucinating. But of course, he wasn't out of his mind, so he quickly rejected the idea before even contemplating it.

Thor took one last look at the patch of reasonably normal air that he had sworn burst into flame, before jumping down from the tree and racing off. It was time he faced the wrath of Tess. Not to mention that the little fire episode shattered all his common sense for a while, something that he really needed before going anywhere near Flame. As he streaked away at an inhuman pace, he did not glance back once, half afraid that he might see what he was looking for, and the other half hoping that he would. However, in the end, he decided to not look back, thus he did not see the cold, calculating topaz eyes that followed him all the way back to the Trieste family house.

The first thing that Thor was greeted with upon entering the threshold of the house was a particularly large single sofa. Fortunately, he had long ago been granted fast reflexes, and ducked out of the way just in time to turn around and see the sofa bounce (crash more like it) down the porch steps and then rolled to a stop at few feet away from the shed. He entered the house again, more cautiously, a rather sheepish grin on his face. He prepared himself for the full rage and annoyance of Tess to come crashing down on him. He wasn't disappointed.

"Where the HELL, have you been? You do know that in approximately three hours and twenty nine minutes you would've been gone for FOUR WHOLE DAYS? Where's the note? Where's the 'goodbye'? and just what on earth WHERE YOU THINKING, Thoreau Trieste?"

Thor winced, and saw Tal snickering in the corner, which probably wouldn't improve Tess' mood by much. Deep, deep, deep down, Thor knew that Tess was only worried about him, but the fact that he had almost been crushed by a rather sizeable sofa nudged that thought out of his mind. Grappling with Tess when she was in this kind of mood was no use either, perhaps since she could predict his movements improved the chance that he would be the one getting beat up. Time for delaying tactics, he thought mentally. Thor grabbed Tess' arms just as she came storming towards him, and ran while pushing her backwards so fast that she hadn't time to realize what he was doing before she had already slammed against Tal.

"Hold her for me, okay?" Thor said, but perhaps the word 'demanded' would be more fitting here.

Tal grinned though, and his arms snaked around her waist. "No problem."

Thor sprinted up the stairs, the sounds of the two scuffling loudly following him all the way to his room. He jumped straight onto the couch, stretching out all the way, and rubbing his eyes with the amount of strength that would've crushed a normal person's skull. A loud sigh escaped his mouth, as if he was trying to expel all his problems with one breath of air. Nothing in life was that easy though, and something like that would be even less possible. Then Thor sat up suddenly, and in a flash of pale skin and blonde hair, he was across the room, down the stairs, and crouching on a sofa, peering down at Tal and Tess.

"Yes?" Tess peered up at him, with Tal seemingly as if giving her a ride on his back. Or maybe she was just trying to squash him. Her petite form was hardly a match against Tal though.

"Has it ever been known that vampires with powers to conjure things?"

Tal snorted, getting up and Tess rolled off him as easily as rainwater off glass. "Listen to you, you sound like a professor. And what's with this conjuring stuff? Come back to reality Thor."

Tess got up, casually stepping on Tal as she walked around the sofa. "Yeah, I never knew you liked Harry Potter Thor." She said, grinning.

Thor rolled his eyes. "Just answer the question, will you?"

"If you're actually serious about that question, and you really, really want an answer, then the answer's no. We've got enough advantages as it is, I think Mother Nature thought it would be unfair to give us supernatural powers that could be physically destructive as well." Tal said, while pinning Tess' arms to her side so she had to abandon her attempt to push him over. Thor watched the two struggling with each other for a moment, deep in thought, before launching himself across the room and up the stairs again. He needed time to think…

The next day, Thor, Tal and Tess made it to school without injuring each other. Thor encountered a teacher on his way to class, who told him that she was glad to see him looking better after three days of having violent pneumonia. Thor raised his eyebrows at Tess' retreating back that was shaking with suppressed giggles, before turning to the teacher, smiling sweetly, while thinking at the back of his head if she had any idea what chance there was that he could get pneumonia.

"I'm fine, Miss Thast. It really wasn't that bad; Tess was just worried about me. She tends to exaggerate sometimes when she's worried." He assured the teacher, who seemed to be trying her very best to look sophisticated in front of him.

"Oh, as long as you're feeling alright now…" she trailed off, and the two were left in a rather awkward silence. Awkward for Miss Thast, anyway; Thor just stood; trying not to look at anyone, but not sure if the teacher was finished with him. A small part of him knew that Miss Thast was waiting for him to say goodbye, but Thor didn't notice that part of him. It wasn't very nice of him, to say the least. The poor teacher fidgeted with a frayed edge of her jacket, seemingly as if wanting to stay standing with the absurdly handsome student, but then also didn't want to seem that she was getting smitten with him either. Thor finally found his heart, figuratively speaking, and spared the poor woman.

"Well, my class is about to start, so if you don't have anything else to say, Miss Thast…"

The lady looked extremely relieved. "Er, yes, that is to say, go on ahead Thor... I mean, Thoreau. Go ahead; I wouldn't want you to be late…"

Thor gave her a slightly out of focus smile, as if he were smiling at the school banner behind her. He walked off, opened his locker, and reached into take out his books. Or what was left of it. He stared, first amazed, then shocked, then in utter disbelief, sifted his fingers through the ashes that were what remained of his books. In a daze, Thor looked at the utter black mess that was his locker. Nothing remained. Nothing but… Thor looked more closely. The black mess on the wall of his locker seemed… arranged, somehow. He looked more closely, with half his head in the locker, and made out two words smudged from ashes.

Go Away

Completely clueless, Thor pulled his head out of his locker, just as the new girl walked past him. Her scent hit him like a ton of bricks (not that it would hurt him much), but before he could even take a look at her face, she had turned the corner and the last of her auburn hair whipped out of sight. She's avoiding me, said his subconscious, but his conscious state was still too dazed at what had happened to his locker to recognize the thought. Thor closed his locker, and leaned his head against the cool metal frame. At such times of confusion and slight frustration, the human scent that wafted around him was more tempting than ever. Before he could lose his mind completely, Thor rushed to find Tal, and tried to slow himself down to a human pace. His impatience grew with every agonizing slow step, before he finally found the black head of Tal. He was chatting up Tess at her locker, maybe trying to soothe the irate look on her face.

"Hey, I need to talk with you."

Something in Thor's voice might've alerted him, and Tal straightened up. "So don't worry about it, okay?" he called to Tess, waving goodbye as he followed Thor out of the building. Tess' face didn't move an inch from its annoyed expression, even as Thor dragged Tal to the car.

"What's the rush?" Tal said. He slipped into the driver's seat as Thor jumped into the passenger seat. "Hey, you need to hear this. Tess opened her locker this morning, and that binder she had, you know, the one she's got all those pictures of us? There was the one when we went to Antarctica, and you fell into the water, and just then this seal came up to see if you were edible-"

"Yes, yes, I remember!" Thor cut him off rather impatiently. He had been alerted as soon as Tal started talking about Tess' locker and her binder, the latter which was flammable. Tal though, was someone that could easily spin off track in a conversation, something that Thor wasn't entirely sure that he was used to, even now when they had been spending almost half a century together. "What about Tess' binder? What happened? Is that why she looked so pissed?"

"Yeah, she couldn't find it. It took her like, five minutes and then she saw this pile of ash and half a photograph right in the corner of her locker. The photo was when we were in the Alps and went climbing, and that guy wearing that fluorescent-green jumpsuit took the picture of three of us. Us two were burned off, and it only left you and about half your body. On the back of the locker, it said 'First Warning'. Sounds like a stalker, don't you think? She was threatening to snap a neck and I was trying to calm her down when you showed up. But it's freaky though. I mean, who could do something like that? Only Tess can open her lock, and the lock wasn't even forced open."

Thor was deep in thought, and had tuned off after Tal had told him about the burnt picture. His head wandered to the day before, when that inexplicable tongue of fire exploded on his shoulder. Being on of the things that they were sensitive to, Thor was a little apprehensive about the possibly fire conjuring person. His mind wandered around aimlessly, trying to join the dots that didn't exist, coming up to incredibly impossible conclusions. Then again, he argued with himself, me being what I am, who am I to say what is and what is not possible? Thor rubbed his temples, and stared out the window. Just as he began to think a little more rationally, he felt himself being flicked on the side of the head.

"Thor? Hello? Did you hear me?"

Thor focused his eyes on the now also irritable looking Tal.

"Ah, sorry Tal, I was just zoning. What did you say?"

Tal rolled his eyes. "Why did you want to talk to me?" he repeated, slowly and carefully as if worried that Thor had become mentally incompetent.

Thor lapsed into silence again, wondering how to start. He wondered if Tal would consider him a complete idiot and hallucinatory, but then again, after what happened to Tess, why couldn't the same thing happen to him? It was like a domino effect; Thor opened his mouth to speak, forcing out a few words that didn't remotely describe what he had felt, but then suddenly his words flew out of his mouth like running water; unstoppable, Thor felt like he was getting rid of some kind of poison in him, every word he expelled let him breathe easier. First came what he had been doing for the past two weeks, what he had been feeling for the past to weeks, and most importantly, what he had found in his locker. Tal listened to him with a patience Thor never knew he had, and never interrupted him. Ten minutes later, Thor's gushing words slowed down until they were only a trickle, and then stopped altogether. It was Tal's turn to be the silent one, his murky gold eyes contemplating Thor.

"If all this is about the girl," Tal began slowly, "Then I think that you need to be careful; no prying, Thor, not this time. You need to find out about the girl from the girl herself. From what you've said, I don't think that anyone would have any information that she didn't want to be displayed. Hacking won't help in this situation, and I don't think interrogations will either."

Thor nodded. "That's what I thought, but I need to know if she's… dangerous." Thor winced as he used the word; he never liked using it and it wasn't a nice thing to say. He would be a hypocrite if he called anyone dangerous, and Thor never liked double standards. Perhaps it was the wrong way to put it, but sometimes you can't use any other words to describe a situation but the one you detest using the most. Life was cruel that way, but everyone went through situations like this, even the practically immortal type. Thor's mind came back to earth as Tal replied.

"It's hard to know for sure Thor. Her name is a big giveaway, but I don't think she'll hurt anyone on purpose. She is a human remember."

"I know," Thor said, remembering the time when he saw her eat. "But that doesn't mean she has a conscience." Thor knew he sounded unconvinced with his own brand of reasoning.

Tal rolled his eyes again. "Thor, listen to your self. You want nothing more than to believe that the girl is harmless!" he grinned. Thor shrugged; his eyes were ambivalent. Tal sighed, before opening the car door. "Look, you've made me miss two classes, so I owe you (love this line ). Just forget your head for a minute okay? Listen to your heart." Tal stared at Thor for a minute, before pulling a face. "Ugh. Never knew that I'd come out with something as sappy as that. Though that's what probably comes through from giving your little brother counseling, right?" Tal ducked with a wide grin on his face as Thor threw his whole bag at him. "Oh, I gotta run. Skip the whole day dude, you need to get that head of yours sorted." Tal's last piece of advice was given even as he darted off to the D Building. Thor shook his head, a slightly bemused smile on his face as he watched Tal disappear. He just stepped out of the car as another figure emerged from the D Building.

"Hey, I thought you said you were…" Thor started to say, but trailed off when he realized it wasn't Tal he was talking to. A pair of topaz eyes stared back at him. Before Thor knew what he was doing, he was sprinting towards the head of shiny auburn hair, leaving the car door open, and within seconds caught up to her. Flame's head shot up as she heard his approaching footsteps, her face curiously blank but her eyes were apprehensive. She didn't stop walking, even when Thor reached her side. He was aware of many people watching them as he reached out and tapped her shoulder. "Excuse me?"

Flame tipped her head towards him, paused her brisk walk, her eyes now cautious. Thor was intrigued at their depths, but he wasn't allowed to daydream. "Yes?"

"I was wondering if this was yours." Not thinking, Thor pulled out the golden stick that was in his pocket, the one he had taken from her tent. He couldn't take it back though, and this was a way he could make sure that she was really the one conjuring the fires, as unbelievable as it sounded. He was still mentally cursing and kicking himself as he watched shock and anger flicker through her topaz eyes, before they went blank again. She reached out, and with one deft movement, plucked it from his hands.

"Yes, that's mine. I was wondering where it got to." She said lightly, but Thor detected a cold almost angry edge to her voice. He needed to get her to talk, somewhere alone, there were too many curious eyes on them now. His brain stirred, and he quickly made up a story. He bent his head fractionally lower towards hers, and his voice became almost a murmur.

"I need to ask you something; could we please talk later?"

Flame's eyes showed no surprise, but almost a cold satisfaction, as if she was waiting for him to ask her that. "I'm actually rather busy, but what time do you consider 'later'?" she replied, her voice perhaps even lower than his. Thor was tremendously grateful that she hadn't just snubbed him and walked off. It would've looked… awkward. Some of this relief must've shown on his face that he was trying to keep impassive though, before Flame's face altered again. Now she seemed almost annoyed. "Keep in mind that my answer was based purely on the fact that for any truthful answer I give you, I will be expecting one in return." Her muted voice said, quiet and deadly; Thor knew it's meaning, and somewhere in his head was expecting an answer like that, but still hoped he wouldn't get one… Tess' face flickered in his mind's eye for a moment before he banished it.

"Yes, I know that. Perhaps if we meet at Pine Brook Bend, say around five o'clock, after school, today?"

Just then, someone brushed past them, knocking Flame's shoulder slightly. Flame's eyes showed a slight flicker of surprise, and waited until the person had gone before nodding curtly. She turned, and without waiting for him to say another word, walked off, one hand clenched tightly around the golden stick. Thor watched her go, before returning to the car, and sliding into the driver's seat. Tess would complain, but if he only took the car out for a few hours… Thor slid out of the parking lot, and rolled onto the road, speeding past shops and houses without a destination in mind. Pine Brook Bend was a remote area of the forest that he knew she lived in. It was an area where an old pine tree leaned almost at a right angle over a small river no more than one meter wide, which held the purest water out of all the water sources in the forest, despite the size of it. It was surrounded by long over hanging branches that masked the area thoroughly, and Thor had only ever known one human to find that place. Now though, he wasn't sure if that human he knew was indeed human.

Before he knew what he was doing, Thor turned towards the road to home, and parked the car outside. He had a few hours until school let out, so there was time… still not sure if he was going insane and completely paranoid, Thor ran upstairs to their 'study room'. It wasn't really used for studying though. They didn't really need to after a century of living, and the things they were learning in school they had learnt a least twice before. Besides, they even lived through some of those historical events that were recorded wrongly. Thor walked past the mountain high bookshelves all slotted carefully with neat books, and made his way to one corner of the room which held one of the three computers they had. He, Tal and Tess shared computers, but technically, this one was 'officially' his. He switched it on, and the machine whirred silently to life, the fast machine taking less than ten seconds to load. Thor clicked the Internet Explorer icon, and then entered the school web address.

He hacked into the system, something that didn't really hamper his conscience. It was only for research, after all… He scrolled down the short list of student names, and clicked on the one that he was searching for. This page showed less than one hundred words. Thor's eyes scanned the page, absorbing the vague and uninteresting information that he could've guessed already. They didn't even supply a last name.

Student Name: Flame

Gender: Female

Age: 18

D.O.B: April 8th

No recorded family, highly intelligent, and quiet. When approached, is sarcastic to the point she is almost rude. Impatient, gets disinterested easily, though shows interest in anything earth, water, fire or air related. She likes staying around the art room kiln.

So she lived by herself then, he thought. After his little 'stalking' period, Thor could've guessed that much. He highlighted an area of the text. Shows interest in anything earth, water, fire or air related… Well that was… interesting… to say the least; the four elements. So if she was fire… If Thor had a moustache, he would've stroked it. So if his super theory was true, and Flame was what he thought she was, then… Look at you, his brain scolded himself, joining dots when there aren't any! Thor found himself drawn into his little mental argument, not being able to resist trying to sort things out… again.

But there are dots… signs… and even clues. The state of my locker, Tess' binder, the photo… those cryptic little notes scrubbed onto the back of the locker and at the back of the burnt photo. Hardly a coincidence, don't you think? Thor shook his head, not being able to stand his own thoughts anymore. He had been stewing for hours over the computer, and Tess would want her car back soon, and school time was about to end. She wasn't the most patient person when it came to waiting. Thor shut down the computer, and let the automatic turn off button do its job as he sped down the stairs and jumped into the car again. Thor started the engine, and drove the car to school, a lot slower than he normally would've done so, because it was only three o'clock, and he had two hours before she was supposed to meet him at Pine Brook Bend… even though he could only drive so slow – 60 kilometers per hour – and only prolong the moment by a few minutes, by the time Thor pulled up to school Tess and Tal were waiting for him already and Tess was looking slightly happier than she was this morning. When she saw him though, the first words out of her mouth indicated otherwise.

"Well, you took your time, didn't you, you monster." She scowled. Thor knew that she was joking by the little twinkle in her eyes and how the corners of her lips tilted upwards.

"Nice to see that you've gotten your head in order," Tal said, grinning at him as he climbed into the backseat with Tess, "By the way, if you want to know, the whole school knows that you're going to meet up with the new girl. Apparently, this girl, Gianni, overheard you guys when you where talking." That girl that brushed past us then, Thor thought wryly, there is no such thing as privacy around here. "A little hint, if you want things you say to stay secret, you shouldn't say it in public." Tal said, winking at him, his eyes bright with humor. Thor scowled at him, but didn't reply. What could he possibly say, anyway? He pulled out of the road, and headed the car towards home for the second time that day, this time still driving slowly. After a while, Tess thumped his headrest.

"Halloo, Thor, speed it up grandpa. I want to get home before the day ends." She said, slightly irked.

"We're going at 70 kilometers Tess, it's not like you're going to age."

"Huh," Tess said huffily, "You're talking as if 70km is fast; if I remember correctly Thoreau, you were the first to complain at the bus driver's driving when we went to camp. He was driving at 70, and all the teachers were threatening to sue if he wouldn't slow down. All the time, you were muttering under your breath about you would sue if he didn't speed up."

"Quite a long speech, Tessellate, if you were really mad you would've just stepped on the gas pedal for me." Thor smirked. Before Tess had the chance to drop her 'fake anger' and replace it with some real anger, Tal stepped in.

"But you know what this is all about, Tess," he said in an extremely loud stage whisper, "There's still and hour and a half until five o'clock, and he needs to spread out his time…" he trailed off suggestively, smirking, causing Tess to fight a smile that she clearly didn't want to show. Thor rolled his eyes, but instead of verbally responding he slowed the car down even more. As soon as Tess noticed, she groaned, and made a big show of getting out of the seat and sliding into the front seat. She slid her foot over to the gas pedal threateningly. "If you don't speed up I'll make you."

"Ooh, I'm scared," Thor said, his voice dripping sarcasm; perhaps not the best thing to do under the circumstances. Tess' leg slid under his and in one deft movement, shoved him out of the way and stomped on the pedal until it she could go no further. The extreme spurt of speed sent a loud squeal of tires, she took the steering wheel and weaved in and out of the cars as fast as 120km an hour and left skid marks on the road as black as tar. If Thor had a working heart, it would've skipped a couple of dozen beats. Thankfully, since becoming a vampire, his reflexes and the ability to process things had became faster, and he pushed Tess back into the backseat and stomped on the brakes, spinning into an alleyway and coming to a stop. He turned, his face thunderous, and not one bit of humor left in his dark eyes.

"What the hell were you thinking? Have you gone completely out of your mind? I won't be surprised if I hear sirens coming!" he snarled. Tess' face was cold and indifferent, and if Thor had been paying attention, a little shocked at his reaction. However, there was no need to say that Thor was not paying attention. If it could, Thor's face would've been red with anger. Instead, his furious eyes were almost black, and Tal coughed slightly, trying to ease the tense atmosphere that thickened after every second.

"Come on, Thor, Tess, no need to fight over this… right? Just a little speeding, every one of us has done it before, no big deal… right, Thor?" he added forcefully. Thor's dark eyes glowered at Tal for a moment, but his natural nature did not seek out conflict when it could be avoided. Thor turned around and brought the car into an alley a good dozen people would've bet that the car couldn't fit into. They would've lost their money as Thor turned another few just as narrow and even more maze-like alleyways and in five minutes came to a stop outside the Trieste house. Ignoring the other two completely, Thor opened and closed the doors of the car before running upstairs. He changed clothes – his school ones looked a little ruffled after Tess' little stunt – and checked the clock. Four o'clock. So he had one hour to do nothing with. One of the advantages about practically eternal life is that you have to learn patience sooner or later, or you'd die of boredom without the need for Father Time. It had taken Thor half a century to learn it, but at last he found his way to be patient: meditate. Not only was it calm and soothing, it helped pass the time and helped him think better.

Thor locked his door and shut the windows, and set his phone alarm to 4:50pm, and then switched it to vibration before slipping it into his pocket. Settling in the traditional lotus position, Thor closed his eyes, trying to focus and ignore the slight edge of anger he still felt about Tess' idiocy. He focused on what he would be expecting from the little encounter he would be having with Flame; what he would say, how he could get some answers without seeming too… curious; a hard feat, seeing as how keen he was to find out the truth. There you go again, Thor scolded himself, getting yourself all worked up again. A soothing process doesn't work if you're going to think about things like that, which certainly is not going to help. Trying not to think about Flame – a harder feat than pretending not to be curious – Thor started breathing deeply, not that it was necessary, and tried to block everything out. After a while, while floating somewhere between his conscious and unconscious state, Thor felt something vibrate in his pocket.

Amazed that he actually was able to relax to this degree, he slipped out his phone and turned off the alarm, before switching it to silent and ran down the stairs. Tal and Tess were no where to be seen, and Thor didn't wait for them. Not bothering to leave a note – if Tal knew that he was meeting the new girl at five then Thor prayed that he was smart enough to realize where he was – Thor ran through the forest, not bothering to start the car, thinking that more than half the way to Pine Brook Bend was a mass of knotted forest anyway, and reached the ancient pine tree two minutes before five o'clock. Looking around, Thor saw no sign of Flame, nor any scent, but she could've easily been high in a tree, and the wind would've blown her scent away before it could've reached him. Thor walked over slowly to the edge of the water, and watched a few loose leaves from the pine tree come loose from its tapestry of branches and bark and fall onto the crystal clear surface of the water he would've been tempted to drink from, if he were human.

A slight movement caught Thor's eye, and his head whipped around, but it was too late. Your paranoia is growing, Thor chided himself. In an attempt to stop fidgeting, or standing under the tree looking like a complete idiot, Thor scaled the tree, and sat on one of the lower branches, one leg hanging over the side and randomly ripping branches and leaves off the tree as he waited. Thor didn't think that meditating now was a good idea, especially if something was about to burst into flames near him. After the brief overview about Flame's personality on the school server, Thor had yet to decide if she was the type that would prefer a dramatic entrance. At least it would alert him if she was in the vicinity; if she tread as light footed as he had witnessed her a few days previously, then even he would probably not notice her approaching in his absent state of mind. Even as Thor observed himself on how unobservant he was, he heard another distinct shuffling. Jumping down from the branch, just in case, Thor spun a stick around his fingers like a circus act. Then the stick spun out of control, and it landed in the small river. Thor bent down to retrieve it, sinking his fingers into the cool surface. Instead of just fishing the stick out though, he made a circular swirling motion with his hand, letting the ripples lap against the back of his hand. Out of nowhere, a voice spoke, quite clearly, as if the person was speaking right into his ear.

"You do know people drink from that. It is bad hygiene to touch what someone else will digest, especially with hands you haven't washed."


	4. Chapter 4

Frequently Asked Questions

Thor spun around, and Flame was there, dressed in white sandals, white blouse and white flared pants. Unbelievable as it sounded, her white attire didn't even have one speck of dirt on it. She was leaning against a tree, her cold, quiet and completely indifferent attitude dropped. Now she just looked like a normal girl; except perhaps for the topaz eyes. Thor straightened, the stick floating on top of the flowing water completely forgotten as the small current carried it downstream and out of sight. Thor matched her posture, and leaned against the pine tree, which creaked slightly under the weight he put on it. His eyes skimmed over her; nothing seemed abnormal. A glitter of gold in her hair caught the light, and his eyes picked out the golden stick he had given her weaved in among her auburn tresses that were tied back slightly at the nape of her neck. Her eyes though, challenged him to respond, and Thor decided to rise up to the occasion.

"No one in their right mind would drink from a river. The water is unfiltered, completely contaminated and not healthy." He stated matter-of-factly. Flame arched an eyebrow, as if his answer dissatisfied her.

"Oh, so scientific, Thor; perhaps it hasn't occurred to you though that people have been drinking water from lakes and streams for centuries; none of them have yet fallen sick."

Thor rather thought that their opening introductions had become a battle of the wits. He let it continue for a bit; he was interested to see what it would conclude to. He made a mental note to himself though, that he wouldn't let it go on for too long. "You never know what people these days put into natural water sources."

"Oh, but you do. Horrid poisons, acid, oil… though the sea life here seem unhampered by such toxins…" Flame waved a pale hand, and Thor's eyes were drawn to the small brook, where two small fish were darting around, slipping between rocks and slicing through the water as agile and quickly as a falcon through air. Thor found nothing to say, and merely shrugged. A slightly triumphant and mischievous grin flickered across her face, but before long it was gone. Thor had a nagging feeling that Flame didn't usually lose an argument. She stepped out from the shade of the tree, her movements graceful but slowly becoming a swagger. She didn't come within five meters of him though, but instead stopped by another tree that had more low-hanging branches that were up to her chest. Thor tried to anticipate her actions, though her total block of his supernatural powers hindered that a little. After a little while, Flame broke the silence again.

"So, what exactly was it that you wanted to ask me?" Her voice had no emotion, completely devoid of the previous mischievousness and cheek that it had previously held. It didn't even hold any curiosity, as if she knew exactly what he was going to ask her about. Thor's eyes probed hers for a while, stunned once again by their intensity, but looked down when he was sure that they were not going to reveal anything. Flame hadn't moved, nor even blinked, as she waited for his answer that was slow to come. Thor tried to gather his thoughts, trying not to sound like a complete idiot as he voiced his suspicions.

"Did you do anything to my locker and Tess' binder?" The obvious answer to that, he reasoned wit himself, would be 'no', since she wouldn't admit to something like that anyway, even if it were true. He watched Flame's face was full of chagrin, and wondered what she was thinking. She seemed to be choosing her words carefully, Thor analyzed, as she replied. Or maybe she was trying to portray herself as carefully choosing her words to fool him. He began to get frustrated with himself even as he heard her words; since when did he second guess himself as much as this?

"What do you exactly mean by 'do anything'? Detailed answers need detailed questions." Of course, Thor could've been a vague, patronizing answer like that as well as a denial. It wasn't a complete denial though… Thor tried to cancel out every loophole from his more revised question. It was a little like two questions in one sentence, but Flame had never said anything about a limit to questions. He took another second though, before trying to silence the little war he was having against himself in his head before speaking.

"Did you have anything to do with the state of Tess' binder or my locker?"

Flame's topaz eyes surveyed him for a minute, before in one quick, lithe movement, she had hoisted herself onto a tree branch and suddenly she was a lot taller than him. A little intimidating, to say in the least, and Thor didn't really feel comfortable to have someone glowering down at him like that, as if he had done something wrong. He didn't move though, and waited for her answer. He couldn't call himself patient though; the last thing that he wanted to do was wait for her answer. No need to say, she took an infuriatingly long time to answer, but Thor knew that that was to be expected as well. That didn't mean that he was any less impatient though. The soft breeze picked up a stray strand of her hair, and weaved a few leaves and stray flower petals in it. That and her white attire, made Flame look like a nature fairy, especially with her swirling topaz eyes. Thor was broken out of his reverie when she replied. To his surprise, it was extremely blunt.

"Yes, I did. It's my way of communicating. Rather affective, I think; nothing better than a threat for telling people to back off." Her voice was harsh, and her eyes, even from the distance, showed a flicker of anger. Total disdain and disapproval radiated from her frame, and Thor was surprised yet again at her sudden mood change. To make it a fairer exchange, Thor took a step and sprung onto another tree himself, and he quickly weaved up the branches so that they were eye level. Her eyes had followed him all the way until he had stopped moving, but they showed no surprise at the quickness and grace at which he moved. Thor didn't know if he should be angry at her or shocked. He tried to weasel more information from her. He didn't expect it to work.

"How did you do it?"

"Do what?" her voice whipped out, sharp and alert. In no way did it feign ignorance about the topic, but Thor sensed that unless he proved himself worthy to her – in other words, able to keep a secret – she wouldn't be telling him more than a peep. Otherwise, anything she told him would probably be a lie. Thor could only think of one way to prove that he was trustworthy – a way that would earn him total and instant isolation from Tess, and probably even Talon. He tried to avoid the one way alley that he was backing himself into, knowing that there was only one destination for him to reach if he was going to get a straight answer from her.

"Burn things like Tess' binder. Nothing else in her locker was even touched. The flame was controlled somehow, but her lock wasn't even forced open. How did you do it?" he repeated the question. Thor thought that he sounded a little short to himself, but he waited for an answer that would surely not hold the information that he sought. He predicted an answer that would just raise far more questions than answers, which would lead to him asking more questions, and then needing more answers. He wasn't disappointed.

"I never said I burnt anything, did I? All I said that I had something to do with the locker and the binder." Her voice was offhand, and completely disinterested. Surprisingly (yet again) Thor didn't feel one bit of annoyance. Her mysterious nature and unwillingness to answer questions intrigued him. Maybe it wasn't unwillingness though; it was more a nature that made circles of relatively easy questions. Perhaps she liked riddles. She surveyed Thor as if he was trespassing on her hand, but stayed silent, as if she was waiting for him to plead guilty to the crime. Thor didn't really like feeling inferior, and wasn't used to it. Not saying that he was stuck up or anything, but no one likes being looked down to. He jumped up onto a higher tree branch before speaking.

"Then what did you do, if you didn't burn it? The only threat that was there was that message scrawled onto the back of the photo and the message on the back of my locker."

"Maybe I'm making you think that I wanted to threaten you." her voice had an under current of something that Thor couldn't identify. He wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to know what it was either. This sentence confirmed only one thing: every word she spoke to him could be a lie. That in itself was not reassuring, and especially not definite since it could've been a lie itself. But then he would have to trust what she said… For the sake of having something to do, Thor climbed a little higher before replying.

"Why not just give a straight answer?"

"Why ask a question to which you already know the answer?" Flame shot back. Thor smiled at the familiar movie quote. Of course it wasn't the answer that he was hoping for, but it gave him a little insight into her world. Not much though, and that could still be a lie. The instability of her remarks gave him a challenge that he adored. Suddenly, in two deft movements, she had swung as easily as a gymnast up onto a branch higher then the one he was perched on. So, is it to be a battle of the limbs now? Thor though to himself dryly, though not discouraged. He didn't immediately climb to a higher altitude, though the action was a little more than tempting. Thor watched her balance herself out, and waited till she was looking around before supplying her with his answer, which wasn't even half as cryptic as hers.

"What can I say that can let us be completely open with each other?" She stared down at him in amazement. Thor knew he was being blunt, and it sounded even a little corny, but he knew no other way to put what he was feeling.

"You know, you sound like I'm your girlfriend or something." She said bluntly, but there was a little twinkle of amusement in her voice. Thor took it as a good sign, but avoided giving her a straight answer to her question, seeing all those ties she had given him vague answers. "Well, are you going to answer the question?" he asked.

Flame shrugged. "No one deserves any knowledge that will work to a benefit of theirs without sacrificing something of themselves first." She stated, but her voice was noticeably lower than it had been previously. It had also proved Thor's previous theory right, especially when her gaze became expectant of him. "I could say that in turn." He said quietly, and this time he climbed up higher, his eyes not leaving hers. The trees that the tow were climbing had branched out so that the two branches knotted together, so much that Thor saw that if they climbed much higher, he would be able to slide over to her tree without even approaching the slimmer and more breakable branches that tapered out on the top. Flame followed his gaze, and she smirked, tilting her head. "No chance of you trying to sneak up on me, right Thor?"

Thor couldn't hold back the smile that spread over his face at the sound of his name flowing out of her mouth. "Well, Flame," he stressed the word, "I should hope not. Me, being such a klutz and all that…" he said, also smirking. He sensed something passed between them, an unspoken understanding, and hoped that she would be able to be a little more open… Thor wasn't stupid enough to try approach the subject himself though. He would have to wait for her to do it, if she was ever going to. "Maybe klutz isn't the word I'd use," she mused, "perhaps a maladroit youth would be more appropriate." An evil grin formed around her lips. Thor put one hand to his cold stone heart, "Oh, that hurts," he said, his voice was so full of offense anyone listening to their conversation would've wholeheartedly believed that he really was upset. Flame however, merely smiled slyly. The tension had eased considerably, and Thor watched Flame settle herself more comfortably on the branch, her slim frame lounging across the branch like a cat, and with just as much balance. He blurted out the question in his head before thinking.

"Are you in the gymnastics team?"

If he could've, Thor would've blushes, especially when Flame raised one eyebrow at him. Her skeptical expression was so degrading, he almost felt ashamed. Of course, such an idiotic question deserved none other answer… Thor started scolding himself again for being so meek. A slight frown appeared on his face, and Flame dropped her expression. To his surprise, she actually answered his question. "No, I'm not good at doing group things. I tend to try and take control." Besides the complete honesty and bluntness of the statement, Thor was taken aback at the fact that she actually said it. It was the closest description you could get to being, well, a 'control freak' and control freaks generally don't admit that they are one. Thor was still surprised even when she asked him her question. "But how about you; neither you nor any of your family have joined any of these school sports either."

Thor shrugged, thinking that if he did join any sports clubs, he'd probably destroy a whole stadium. Besides, they might get a picture of him, and someone was bound to notice if he hadn't changed in appearance even a little bit for two years. Thor was going to reply though; if he didn't Flame would just close herself up again, thinking that they couldn't talk about their faults in front of each other. "Well, I think that I tend to outshine people when we're doing things like that. People might think I'm conceited, and I wouldn't want that…" Flame gave him a little smile at his reply. Thor stretched out his limbs as well, crossing his arms behind his head as he surveyed the girl in front of him. The raging curiosity in him had died down a little bit now; now he was just curious about not only if she could burn things, he was also curious about her, in general. He wanted to know everything about her, where she came from, about her family… but something told him that this wasn't the right time to pry. Thor was now beginning to learn that Flame was full of never ending surprises. Her quiet, siren voice was picked up easily by his super hearing.

"You still want to know if the state of your locker is my fault." Her soft mumble of completely simple words were not only unexpected, but Thor had thought that the last thing that she would've wanted to do is to bring up that subject. He was beginning to see that the most complicated thing in the world would probably be trying to figure Flame out. "Well, the curiosity is there. It's not as strong is it was before, but it's there." He said, making his tone light and carefree. He could feel her eyes probing his face, and wasn't sure what he looked like in her eyes. He hoped that it was nothing bad though… "It's like fear. You're not always afraid, but the instinct that you should fear is always there."

Flame nodded. At least she didn't take it as an offense… Thor knew that she could've easily taken their light banter as his way of luring her into a sense of security before trying to drag out an answer from her. He watched her weave her fingers through a mass of sticks and leaves, before sliding them out again with a single leaf within her fingers. Thor watched her magician acts, before she spoke again. "Yes I did that. How, I will not divulge to you, just yet. As for why, I think that you know the answer to that pretty well yourself. So now, Thoreau, you have When, Where, Who, What and Why. One more piece of the puzzle before you can start your investigations more thoroughly, don't you think?" she commented lightly.

Thor didn't know if she was angry or if this was just her way of making communication. The wind blew her scent into his face, and it became harder for him to resist tackling her. Something, no doubt, she wouldn't tolerate one bit. He tried to take his mind of her stunning scent with more chatter. It worked before… "Would you mind, though?" That didn't sound like he really was going to research on her, right…? But you have been, piped up an irritating part of his brain. Flame seemed to seriously consider it before replying.

"I don't think I would. I'd probably be offended if you thought that I wasn't interesting enough to research." A smirk suddenly sprung onto her face, similar to when a wolf traps its prey and knew that there was going to be a kill. But, on the other hand, maybe Thor was just being paranoid. Anyway, he was the vampire here. Before he could get too carried away though, Flame spoke again. "Maybe searching school files won't work though, especially when they just record information that you supply. I think I've dropped enough hints though, don't you?" Thor tried to pick out any hidden meanings that she could've had in that brief two sentences. So she had been dropping hints… and she knew that he had hacked into the school system and checked her file. If she knew that he was doing that, what else could she know? Was she a complete computer whiz as well as having gymnast skills, a singing voice, athletic body and a generally appealing appearance? Don't include the possible fire lighting ability said a particularly sarcastic part of his mind. Thor waved that thought away before it could affect him too much.

"Well, you certainly won't confirm for me any hints you might or might not have dropped would you?" He asked. He knew it was foolish, but a slight glimmer of hope appeared in his mind. Of course, Flame couldn't resist crushing it. "Of course I wouldn't, what's the fun in that?" Thor muttered something under his breath, and Flame seemed to catch what he heard, even though it was almost as quiet as a whisper. She smiled, and tilted her head slightly, as if pondering what she was about to say to him would be the right thing to do. Thor nodded slightly, almost unaware of the movement he was making. "So, Sherlock Holmes, any idea to what I am yet?"

Her choice of words was unusual. Why say 'what I am' instead of 'who I am'? 'What I am' made her sound like a thing, not human, with both advantages and disadvantages that a normal human wouldn't normally have. Definitely another clue and maybe even her mention of Sherlock Holmes was something he could use… Thor decided to put on a show and gave an exasperated sigh. "Oh, why oh why must you be so obscure?" he cried in a despairing voice. Flame's cheeky grin was back on her face as she picked up on what he was doing immediately. To his surprise and delight, she played along.

"Oh, I shall never know, Thoreau," he noted her constant use of his full name, "It must be the way I am. Perhaps it is easier for me to understand the complications of the world when I am complicated myself. That for one balances things out a little more. What should you think?" Thor grinned, and sat up a little straighter. "Oh, someone as complicated as you should not need advice or opinion from such a simpleton like me… surely there is no noble nor priest with a higher level of teaching than you!"

"Nobles? Priests? What era are you living in, exactly?" she scoffed. Their conversation had become faster and faster, and Thor had to remind himself to slow down before his speech became the supersonic hum that would clearly show Flame that he wasn't exactly human. "What era do you think I'm living in?" this train of speech wasn't exactly what he had had in mind, but it was better than that previous tense silence. Thor was so intent at waiting for her reply; it took him a while to notice that she wasn't replying. He became cautious; did she perhaps guess that he was older than he had seemed…? Yeah, way older; about ninety years older, said the sarcastic part of his mind. Flame hugged her knees to her chest, her eyes turning ambivalent and watched him with conflict raging in her eyes. Cautiously, Thor stood up, his eyes never leaving her face. He swung onto another branch, bringing him closer to her. Flame's eyes flickered, almost red in the dimming light, but she never moved an inch. She didn't even seem tense, but Thor knew that a reasonably good actor could cover their emotions easily. He sat down again, against a thicker part of the tree trunk. "Better shelter." He said, patting the trunk. Flame nodded, but there was no conviction in the action. Thor knew that she wasn't to be fooled by such a pathetic excuse. The silence settled over them again before Flame spoke up. "You're getting impatient."

It wasn't a question. Thor heard the blunt finality in her statement. He didn't want her to feel that way… he could feel her sealing up the little crack that he had managed to open. "I'm not feeling impatient." He said, trying not to sound panicky. "You're very interesting. Like I said, the curiosity is always there, but I still like talking. Just talking," He added, after seeing her look of slight incredulousness. "You don't need to tell me what you've been doing your whole life, you don't need to tell me secrets. I like just talking." It was a rather long speech, but Flame seemed to settle slightly. Thor knew that a little statement like that wouldn't be enough to stop her from harbouring doubts against him, but at least she wouldn't be thinking bad things about him… he hoped. "I'll tell you about me then," he offered. A small nod from Flame, but she wouldn't meet his eyes. Thor settled down, staring at the sky before starting his story. He was careful to edit out some important information though. Like when he had to leave his home because they were bringing in soldiers. Like when he had been following her in the forest. But something in Flame's topaz eyes told him that she knew more things about him that he wanted her to know. He spoke, keeping most of the facts real; he just changed the dates a bit, and the situation. As he spoke he revived the human memories he hadn't touched for the past few years…

The little boy climbed up to the cupboard, intent on getting at the sweets inside. Making little grunts of frustration as the jar remained steadfastly beyond his reach, determination gave way to irritation. Without thinking, he stamped his foot on the already weak planks of wood, giving in to his annoyance.

Creak… creak… SNAP

With a loud splintering of old wood, the table the boy had been standing on gave way, and the boy fell to the floor, falling straight into the splinters of the broken table. Frustrated yells immediately turned into painful shrieks, which caught the attention of mother. The lady ran in, taking in the scene of the broken table and bawling child, before sweeping the latter up into her arms and rushing out the door, yelling simultaneously for the housekeeper to clean up the mess and for someone to go get the local healer.

Flame hadn't moved since he had started talking, and long after silence had settled, she still didn't move. Thor, lost in his memories, didn't move either. His voice had trailed off, and the only thing that remained was the whistling wind and the quiet shuffling of tree branches. Thor had gone through a time when he missed being human terribly – for a whole month he had sat at a table, scribbling down all his human memories so as to not forget them. His vampire mind imprinted his teenage human life deep into his subconscious, but that didn't mean that his conscious mind wouldn't forget anything. Flame studied the person sitting opposite her, who seemed deep in thought. She ran her fingers along the sides of the piece of wood that she was using as a seat, hesitant to break the silence. Why would he want to tell me about his life? Me, out of all people? Me, the person he holds responsible for destroying his locker and his brother's girlfriend's property? He's absurd. Flame thought distractedly to herself. She heard the sincerity ringing in every syllable of his words though, and could not doubt his words. She had insisted throughout this whole meeting that she would keep this a fair exchange, so, almost unwillingly, she began to speak. Thor's head shot up as soon as she started talking, startled that she was going to divulge her background information to him. He met her steady gaze, which showed nothing of what she might've been feeling as she told him the past about her remote life.

"I lived with my brother for my entire life, after my parents… passed away when I was five. We were closer than anything I had ever known; he was all I ever knew. He was my companion in everything; living, sleeping, and we loved each other. All I ever knew was life like a hunter, but I was happy. Happiness is not something you buy, it's not something you can wait for, but it's something everyone wants. I was blessed; I had it from the moment of my birth. On my seventeenth birthday, someone just decided to take it all away. I don't even know why they did it, or even who they were. My life was shattered in front of my eyes. I couldn't face it; I was weak, I ran away. I ran away to here, this place where human thrive by killing others, where appearance can get you into practically anything. For a long time, I was torn; I couldn't see anything I might gain from living in such filth, but I couldn't go back and face what I had left behind, so I stayed. At least I could face the scum that lived here; I really couldn't care any less about what people here were like. I didn't want to get to know anyone; I didn't need to get to know anyone." Thor almost winced at the bitterness in her voice, and despite what she said, admired how strong she was. He constantly heard tears at the verge of her voice, but her eyes stayed hard, intense, but tear free. She continued to speak, her eyes clouding over with grief and fury as she recalled the memories at her first day of school.

"So I lived here, for half a year. Life was fine, but then I decided to go to school. It wouldn't be that bad, I thought to myself. Nothing could be worse than what I had been through, so I signed up. The principal here was a bit suspicious, but couldn't say anything since I was legally eighteen and I could be my own guardian. The first half of the day was what I expected. Those depraved people stared at me all day, and then I felt something in my mind. There was a girl in a class opposite mine, a very attractive girl. I pulled away from her, not knowing what she was trying to do to me. I was lost in my thoughts as I went to lunch, thinking that that girl would be the strangest thing that would happen to me that day. I was wrong." Her voice had shrunk to a whisper, and Thor realized that he had been leaning towards her. Her story had been so real; he could almost feel Tess working her little power on him. He was almost like in a trance, and he wanted to know more… what had happened? The words were out of his mouth before he could think for himself what might've happened to her.

"What happened?" his voice was hushed, like she had been telling a gothic story and she had paused just before revealing the climax of the story. Flame had averted her eyes, but she looked back at him even he had asked her. Thor searched her eyes, knowing that it would hold nothing for him but tried nevertheless. The sudden amount of emotion he saw there was like the first glance he had of her; the grief, the hatred, was all there, and Thor almost fell out of the tree. He caught himself though, and his fingers gripped the sides of the branch he was sitting on tightly. Not too tightly though. Thor though he had steadied himself, but then Flame's next words stunned him as effectively as if he had been hit over the head with the world.

"I met you."

Thor felt like his stomach was so empty that he might just float a few inches into the air. His fingers tightened unconsciously, and unfortunately for him, they tightened so much that he didn't notice and then he did notice. The fact that he was falling rapidly to the ground probably helped catch his attention though. Before he knew what he was doing, Thor's natural instinct told him to get away from the danger. His instinct overruled his mind for a slight second, but it was a very crucial second. Thor reached out, and swung his body around onto another branch, and milliseconds later, the branch he had been sitting on shattered onto the floor. After a few heavy breathes, Thor's mind caught up to his actions. Well, not completely. What followed was a long stream of profanities that he certainly wouldn't have normally uttered. Then he seemed to remember that someone was still watching him. He looked up to see Flame staring down at him, her eyes not exactly wide, but expressing shock and surprise better than any wide eyes could. Before Thor could move, she had swung down nimbly to the same branch he was standing on, closer than he had ever been to her, but her eyes cautious nonetheless. Thor closed his eyes, readying himself for a stream of questions that most surely would follow after his lightning fast escape.

"Who are you?" Thor's eyes snapped open, and found Flame's topaz eyes staring into his, hesitating, not sure if she could trust what he said. Thor knew that this was his chance to be completely open with her. It wasn't as if it happened on purpose though… He took a deep breath, letting his hands down, and jumping down to the ground, preparing himself to tell the truth. He hoped, once he was completely open with Flame, she would feel that he would keep her secret. She hadn't followed him, still perched on the tree branch, but surveying him as if he were about to run away. Thor decided to demonstrate how he would run away. In a flash, he was standing next to her again. He had to credit Flame, she didn't even flinch. Her eyes were more wary than ever now though, and he swore that she was sliding away from him. He took a deep breath. "Okay, explanations. If you want it in short, I'm not human. Technically, I'm dead." Thor watched Flame's reaction. She didn't seem surprised, or even disbelieving. It was as if she knew all this and just needed confirmation. "Call me whatever you want; the undead, a zombie… what people would identify with me though, would be the word Vampire."

Thor heard Flame's sharp intake of breath, and he closed his eyes. The word… he loathed it. Everyone associated vampires with death, hate and anger. Vampires were the being of pure evil, killing to live, and he didn't want to think that he was like that. Drinking from animals was as close as he could get; didn't everyone eat animals? Now that he had classified himself with the word though, he wouldn't be surprised if when he opened his eyes, if Flame wasn't there anymore. The last thing he expected was the cold touch on his shoulder. Jerking, Thor snapped his gaze back at Flame. The thing that surprised him the most was not the sympathetic expression on her pale face, and it wasn't the complete fearlessness, it was her eyes. The topaz orbs that had held nothing but bitterness and hatred and grief before, now was so soft, so full of understanding, Thor almost went weak at the knees. His face showed confusion, and he almost stepped back. The question that was spinning around in his face was clear: Why? Flame answered without her usual pause.

"The earth creates us as we are; do not regret that you are different. Think instead that you have been granted things that humankind has been wishing for many millennia now. You have friends you can call family, you've been given more gifts just so you can live, and that is more than a lot of people can say in this world. Be happy with what you have, Thoreau, do not regret what you have become." Flame's low voice was quick, her words spinning a song for him, one that he had never been able to hear. Her words were like a balm on a wound, but Thor still tried to turn away from it. His head turned, he averted his eyes to the orange sun that was sinking into the horizon. It did nothing to distract him though; the olden orange seemed exactly like Flame's eyes. What she said made every sense in the world; but he detested himself too much to believe the purity and goodness behind those words. He felt Flame's hand clench his shoulder lightly, before she let go. He turned his gaze back on her, conflict and regret blazing in his eyes.

"That's easy enough for you to say. Every time I walk past someone, I want to kill them. That's not a gift; it's a curse. Humankind wish for many things; a teenager can wish that he didn't have any family to restrict his wants, but when his family does die, or abandon him, he realizes how good his life had been; how good normal can be. Humankind often wishes for things they want and don't even think about, and when they do get it, not even all the regret in the world can redo what had happened. So it is with me. In exchange for life, I died. There's nothing rewarding about it!" His voice had become sharp, as if trying to convince her about how truly bad he felt about himself. Thor turned his head away again, not wanting to face the persuasive eyes of Flame. Kind words could be heard anywhere; kind words weren't necessarily the truth, and it was the truth he needed, not cozy kind words that coddled him into ignorance, as blissful it could be.

"What you think of yourself is up to you Thor; you can spend the rest of eternity loathing yourself or face what you have and enjoy it. What I think of you though…" Thor turned around quickly, his eyes surprised. Flame smirked at him, before jumping down to the ground, her knees bent slightly to absorb the impact of the landing. Thor followed her lead, and waited. "What else can you do?" her mood changed completely. Thor watched her topaz eyes sparkle, and he felt the sudden need to please her. He walked backwards, and reached the trunk of another tree. Flame watched him, her face expectant. "I'll try not to scare you," he joked. Flame stuck her tongue out at him. Such a childish action made Thor laugh, and he picked up a tree, not fully grown, and about his height, and ripped it out of the ground as easily as if he were picking a flower. He watched Flame's surprised expression with amusement that he didn't bother covering up, before feigning throwing the whole thing at her. Flame glared at him, as if daring him to do it, but didn't flinch.

"Like you would dare," She scoffed at him, folding her arms. Thor grinned as he rolled the branch along his shoulders like it was a rubber ball. He watched Flame follow his every movement with eyes that caught every detail, and just for fun, he let it drop to the floor. Flame took one step back hastily, and he laughed at her. Scowling, Flame scowled at him, but her eyes were sparkling. Thor picked up the tree again, and snapped it in three, and started juggling. Flame rolled her eyes at him, but she was evidentially interested in what he was doing. Maybe interested was a bit of an understatement though. She was captivated, mesmerized… but still alert about anything unusual that came from the darkening forest. Thor could easily imagine Flame as a cat, her ears twitching at any slight sound coming out from her surroundings. He flicked his finger at a tree branch, and it snapped off easily and flew at Flame. She ducked out of the way just in time, and it flew through the space which her shoulder had previously occupied.

"You idiot!" she yelled. Thor laughed again at her complete annoyance at him, before taking aim again. Flame clenched her fists, her gaze hardening. "You wouldn't dare!" Thor grinned wickedly, and closed one eye. Flame ducked again, almost squealing, as another branch hurtled past her shoulder. "Stop it!" Thor knew that she was too proud to go hide behind a tree, but he also knew that she was fast enough to predict his movements and duck out of the way. Anyway, if she wasn't he was. Thor took aim again, careful to make his movements slower than they would've been if he were hanging out with Tal. He saw Flame tighten again, before flicking another branch at her. This time, she did an elaborate spin, and the twig flew past her with a meter to spare. Thor grinned, and Flame dusted her clothes down, sniffed at him. "You've got to try better than that if you want to mark me." Thor grinned.

"What if I threw this at you?" He balanced another branch along one finger. This one was a meter long, and twenty centimeters thick. He knew that he could throw it slow enough for Flame to duck out of the way, so no harm in that… But Flame seemed to have different ideas. She glared daggers at him, before walking off and leaping onto a low tree branch again. Thor stared at her. She crossed her legs on the wide branch, and cocked her head at him, as if daring him to do his worst. Thor grinned. "Are you absolutely sure that you know what you're doing?" Thor asked, throwing the branch up into the air ten meters high before catching it again. Flame leaned back, her topaz eyes sparkling darkly. They were almost menacing, but Thor couldn't bring himself to be scared or hesitant of Flame. He took a few steps closer to her, but she held up a hand and shook her head.

"No cheating Thoreau. You stay right there. If you want to win this, then you play fair." She smirked. Thor listened carefully, trying to guess any double meanings behind the words. She smirked again at his expression. "You're not the only one with powers." She said cryptically. Thor guessed the double meaning in that one pretty quickly. He narrowed his eyes, and gripped the end of the stick with one hand. He drew his arm back, but prolonged the moment. "So you think you can stop this? You think you can avoid it without moving?" he jeered. Flame smiled. The smile told him that she knew something that he didn't, and she had many hidden talents that he was yet to even guess about. Thor pressed his lips into a hard line at the unspoken challenge, but was still hesitant. What if he really did hurt her…? Flame sensed and saw his uncertainty. She sighed, almost impatiently. Thor didn't know why.

"Are you going to throw the stupid thing? Because I'm getting bo-ored…" she said in a sing song voice. Thor rolled his eyes, but his hand lowered slightly, trying to lower her defenses. Flame smirked, as if knowing exactly what he was doing. She propped her hands up behind her, bringing up her legs to rest along the branch, and sighed, this time definitely impatient. "Thoreau, if you don't have anything else to do, then I'll just have to leave and find amusement elsewhere. So, if you wouldn't mind…" she motioned with one hand for him to hurry up. Thor was getting suspicious. He spun the stick around in one hand. "Why the eagerness, Flame?" he asked lightly, "Why do you want me to throw it?" he challenged. He saw Flame roll her eyes, and couldn't help but feel he was missing something; an inside joke or somewhat. "Well, Einstein, if you had thrown the branch, you would've found out by know, don't you think? She said sweetly.

Thor thought about it for a moment, and shrugged. "Whatever the Miss says, I shall do." He grinned, pulled his arm back and threw the stick, much faster in his excitement than he had intended to. For one breathless moment, he took a step forward, just as Flame reached out one pale hand and flicked her hand at the branch flying towards her. For one moment, for one millisecond, Thor thought that he saw Flame's topaz eyes burn red; blood red. But just as her fingers became splayed out towards the branch that was only meters away from her, the redness vanished and was replaced with her normal topaz colour. The branch was only one meter away from her…

Then it burst into flames.


End file.
